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What
an unholy marriage!
Editorial
Ethiopian Observer
The circus of another matrimony in a set of
ever changing partners is now at its apex with press statements,
joyous members of the so-called alliance, congratulatory messages
from the diehard and extremist groups in the Diaspora and of
course the blessing by the master conspirator and head priest
Isaias Afeworki from Asmara. It is seriocomic that such groups
with diverse ideologies, viewpoints and doubtful democratic
credentials are gathered in such an unholy marriage to promote the
quisling agenda and the barbarous civil war to dismantle
Ethiopia
. Looking at the previous histories of these groups, one can
wonder if they fully aver the meaning of what they signed under or
if this agreement was meant a propaganda stint. The people of
Ethiopia
have never heard tell of some of these groups. Legitimacy of an
opposition group cannot be obtained by simply recruiting all kinds
of fronts imaginary or not. When one tries to analyze the
accusations and counteraccusations with those legally working
opposition groups in the Ethiopian Parliament and some in the
Diaspora about the larceny of their party registers and symbols by
these wishy-washy groups, then the obvious is that this groups is
clearly doomed to failure before its takeoff as a serious partner
for peaceful negotiation with the Ethiopian government.
The CUD- the Diaspora section by allying
itself with such terrorist groups such as the OLF and ONLF has
already disqualified and distanced itself from working as real
opposition with those parliamentary groups in
Ethiopia
. Some of the leaders abroad are known for tax evasion and as
instigators of riot and therefore no wonder of their alliance with
the sources of anti-peace and anti-democracy, as this would allow
them to loot the country and create havoc. This is the same party,
which contended during the election, betrayed its electors, called
for violent unrest to depose the legal government and finally
disbanded itself into loyal parliamentarians and a branch of
Diaspora extremists and cantankerous fanatics. The same is true of
a group, which calls itself EPPF. Thanks to the pictures of some
camouflaged Eritrean soldiers acting as “Ethiopian patriots”,
they tried to hoodwink the scurrilous Diaspora to generate money
in order to “get rid of the dictatorship of EPRDF/EPLF”. A
person, whose name was so revealing, namely Atalay, represented
the EPPF.
The OLF has its heydays during the
transitional period, when it was part and parcel of the Ethiopian
government as a coalition force with high ministerial and
influential administrative posts. However, this group undermining
the democratic engagement and process, tried to sabotage the
relatively “weak Ethiopian state” by subterfuges and creation
of its own army to “discard the Ethiopian Empire state once for
all”. How many of us do remember the hacking of our Ethiopian
brothers and sisters with machetes and the vicious onslaught when
innocent people were being thrown from the cliffs and edges of
hilltops and gorges!
The ONLF, a small fringe group with clannish
mentality within the Ogaden region known for out-heroding the
populace, serves as an extended arm of the Al-Qaeda. Its
collaboration with Al-Ithad Al-Islamiya and the Eritrean
government has been well documented. Its international jihadist
group were apprehended and dealt with in Ogaden during the early
days of Bin Ladins training in fomenting and creating a global
terrorist network. This is one among these groups intended to
bring about freedom and democracy to
Ethiopia
!
There is news coming from
Ethiopia
, where the legal CUD condemns the violence these groups are
advocating in order to make regime change as well as from a group
called EPDUF slamming the EPPF as criminals running Isaias’
errand. The voluble Diaspora UEDF has not yet decided whether to
join such groups and the one-man TAND prates as usual furiously
not to be included in the negotiations. Certain disgruntled
persons are behaving as if they are the sole representatives of
their respective people and ethnic groups. They come up with
statements and undersigned memos with personal attacks and total
disregard of the people. Some very marginalized groups of
Ethiopia
, who were denied of their existence and didn’t have the
slightest form of human rights such as association within their
region, organizational work, democracy, respect of their culture,
language, history, etc. and lacked basic necessities, have started
to act as if they were the tribal chiefs of their respective
communities. They act as if they were the spokesmen of
Ethiopia
, though their limited parochial knowledge beyond their own
society is prevalent and widely known. They try to use their
unabashed lies to make a profit by exploiting the gullibly
uninformed. We think that it is time they get out from their
stridency and make assessments both of their own and their
respective society’s historical background and reflect upon the
country’s developmental efforts for the last 15 years. Trying to
benefit by disseminating hatred among our peoples is tantamount to
a dangerous predicament and these people should be held
accountable for any eventual conflict and terrorist activities. In
the European Union, though few in number among the
parliamentarians with the conservative group, Mrs. Anna Gomez the
conservative sponsor and supporter of the CUD was part in the
making of the conference venue to assemble and invite the
terrorists in the fine rooms and conference halls of
Belgium
. The EU should look into its provisions how its ex-chief
observation mission to
Ethiopia
works in collusion with groups, which are undemocratic and
rejected by Ethiopians. Ethiopians would not accept that the EU
get involved in the internal affairs of the country and any Anna
Gomez sponsored violence is to the disadvantage of the EU. We know
what the conservative Christian democratic parties of Europe had
for role in the bloodshed of
Rwanda
.
Ethiopia
has introduced democracy
not to be eulogized or hailed by someone living far away from the
real life of the masses. The change in the rights of the people
and standard of living to the better is taking place right before
our eyes. No body not even those donors could accuse the Ethiopian
government and people of embezzling or misusing aid, loans and
donations.
Ethiopia
has been progressing and is still progressing. The rates of
economic growth are astounding, measured to both African global
conditions and scale. This is the reality of the developmental
efforts so far taken by the incumbent government. The opposition
politicians have now increased by 15 fold compared to the last
election. There are lively discussions and active participations
in the Parliament. Those, who are yearning for the total collapse
of our beloved country, the developments taking place, are bitter
pills to swallow. We know that democracy is not a one time
parliamentary or group decision coming in an apple-pie order
except needs a long process, especially when one looks at the
educational level, the chauvinistic and narrow nationalistic
tendencies of a country with more than eighty nations and
nationalities and a population with diverse needs and views.
Though a lot of campaigns and demonstrations
against aid and loans to the Ethiopian people were staged around
the world by the extremists, the World Bank and
Great Britain
has decided to give
Ethiopia
$447 million. This is really good news and as such shows the
credibility of the government to be able to move the country from
extreme poverty evils of backwardness to the path of sustainable
development and democracy.
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