Ethiopian Regime Expands its State Sponsored Terrorism to the United States

Ethiopian Political Civic Democratic Forces
Joint Actions Coordinating Committee

Ethiopians Condemn the foiled Assassination Plot on Journalist Abebe Gelaw

PRESS RELEASE
January 20, 2013

The Ethiopian community in America is outraged to learn about the foiled plan of assassination attempt on Abebe Gellaw, an Ethiopian journalist in exile in the U.S. This clearly reflects the irredeemable criminal nature of the incumbent Ethiopian regime led by TPLF (Tigrean Peoples Liberation Front). According to credible media sources in the US, the plan of the assassination was foiled by FBI and the culprits are under investigation.

Abebe Gelaw is a known critic of the Ethiopian regime and a strong advocate for the rule of law in Ethiopia which is controlled and ruled by a hardcore ethnic minority (TPLF) for the last 21 years.

Many Ethiopians at home and abroad face similar fate as Mr. Gellaw and fear for their lives. There is no rule of law in Ethiopia and no guarantee for the protection of life, liberty or property under the current regime. Businessmen, students, religious leaders, peaceful protestors in Ethiopia, in Kenya, South Africa and other places face threats and assassination. The blood thirsty regime succeeded in assassinating exiled Governors of Gabmbella and Moyale who were the first two causalities in Nairobi, Kenya.

Businessmen who protested illegal takeover of their business by the government in Nazareth, farmers who protested illegal takeover of their farm in Gambela, churches in Gonder and mosques in Addis Abeba, and Arsi who protested government interference, peaceful citizens in the Ogaden, university students and civilians throughout Ethiopia who protested lack of freedom or rigged elections were massacred.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the UN, the U.S. Department of State, Genocide Watch, and Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have documented many of these human rights violations committed by the incumbent criminal regime in Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian people have been subjected to this vestige of abuse for generations now. The pathetic situation continues where 85 million Ethiopians have no freedom and no hope for improvement. The regime uses any tactics or measures necessary to stay in power including intimidation, patronage, kidnapping and political assassination.

Through its cronies and paramilitary forces, as well as party members it controls the economy and the political space in Ethiopia. Using the Federal Police regularly intimidates and kills at will on streets, schools, churches and mosques, as it has done just recently in Anwar Mosque in Addis Abeba, the capital city.

The assassination attempt on U.S. soil reflects the defiant and the rogue nature of the regime. In the U.S. the regime uses lobbyists, senators, congressmen, local public officials to hide its true nature, and vast number of agents to intimidate U.S. Citizens of Ethiopian origin for not colluding or supporting or openly opposing the government policies that they regard unjust and illegal.

In Ethiopia besides the political oppression and ethnic tensions created to divide and rule the people, the government owns all land, Internet, food distribution, banking, telecommunication, and other industries causing massive inefficiency in production which in turn brings about massive starvation and unemployment.

For a long time, some U.S. senators, congressmen, human rights organizations, and journalists expressed their deep concerns over the high degree of repression and human rights abuses suffered by the Ethiopian people.

According to Professor Mesfin, a leading human rights activist, “The government has placed itself above the law, rules the country by force, and exonerates itself from any crimes it commits against defenseless citizens and this makes up the saddest reality prevailing in present-day Ethiopia.” According to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, “paramilitary units continue to use random searches, beatings, mass arrests and lethal force against peaceful protesters.”

The Daily Telegraph calls the current situation “a systematic onslaught against the majority of the Ethiopian people,” and the paper begs to ask, whether the world is unaware of the countless human rights violations that are experienced by the local people or the world has decisively chosen to look away from the reality. The Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Africa, Chris Smith, and R- New Jersey referred, Meles, the late Prime Minister as the “vicious dictator” of Ethiopia.

Attorney Kamu Kiflu, human rights activist from Uganda said, “the current dictator hides under the guise of the rule of law, while modeling himself under former Albanian Communist, Enver Xhosa.”

There is overwhelming evidence about the tyrannical situation in Ethiopia. We, therefore demand an end to assassinations and intimidation of journalists, religious leaders, businessmen, students, human rights activists, and members of Diaspora and their families at home. We place our demand on record for the immediate expulsion of the Ethiopian Ambassador, as coordinator of these nefarious activities and for engaging in activities incompatible with international diplomatic conventions. We also ask the FBI to investigate and expel agnt’s of the Ethiopian government whose sole purpose is intimidating and spying on the Diaspora, and indulging in illegal activities including transfer of funds for top government officials to the U.S. and to offshore accounts.

Aklog Birara, Ph.D., Chair, Joint Actions Coordinating Committee of Ethiopian Political & Civic Democratic Forces

Advocacy for Ethiopia (AFE)
Alliance for Liberty, Equality and Justice in Ethiopia (ALEJE)
Beruh Ethiopia Democratic Movement (Beruh Ethiopia)
Ethiopian Border Affairs Committee (EBAC)
Ethiopian National Priorities Consultative Process (ENPCP)
Ethiopian National Transitional Council (ENTC)
Ethiopian People’s Congress for United Struggle (Shengo)
Global Civic Movement for Change in Ethiopia (BEKA)
Oromo Liberation Front (Led by General Kemal Gelchu group)

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