Power Africa? Empower Africans!

July 28, 2013

by Alemayehu G. Mariam

Power, power, power…

When President Obama recently visited Africa, he announced a “Power Africa” initiative.  In his Cape Town University speech, he proclaimed,  “I am proud to announce a new initiative. We’ve been dealing with agriculture.  We’ve been dealing with health. Now we’re going to talk about power: Power Africa, a new initiative that will double access to power in sub-Saharan Africa. Double it.  We’re going to start by investing $7 billion in U.S. government resources. We’re going to partner with the private sector, who themselves have committed more than $9 billion in investment.”

In the speech, President Obama used the word “power” 21 times in a variety of contexts. He philosophized about “power that comes from acting on our ideals” and the  “power of human beings to affect change”. He urged Africans to act “through the power of your example”. He encouraged support for programs “that empower women”. He mildly chided “those in power who make arguments to distract people from their own abuses.”

Massive crackdown underway in Ethiopia

July 28, 2013

The Horn Times Newsletter July 28, 2013

by Getahune Bekele, South Africa

Massive crackdown underway on opposition stronghold of South Wollo, Ethiopia

It was a pre-dawn assault by hundreds of heavily armed federal police members backed by pro-TPLF local militia on the opposition UDJP strong hold of South Wollo province.

According to Finotenetsanet newspaper reporters, yesterday’s dawn- to- dusk raid targeted the twin towns of Haiq and Worebabu; and more heavy handed attacks are set to continue in other nearby towns and villages of the historic province.

Anti-expatriate propaganda and racist cartoon against Ethiopians in Arab News should come to a stop now

July 28, 2013

Dear Sirs, Greetings from India,

I am shocked and appalled at the ongoing continuous propaganda in Arab News via cartoon of Abdullah Sayel, who makes racists comments in the cartoon that is seen each day in Arab News which has editors who have no common sense of selection as they are very poor in English except one or to who are the best.

As a senior newspaper editor, I concur with many Saudi, Indian and Pakistani friends that the cartoons are indeed very bad in taste and has touch of racism in it. Why this propaganda against the Ethiopian brothers and sisters and that too in the blessed month of Ramadan?

I really fail to understand the logic and stand of Arab News of embarking on this systematic hate campaign against the Ethiopians. Why the once upon a time good newspaper has suddenly become hostile towards the expatriates?

Who were they then? Who are they now?

Gebremedhin Araya former
TPLF head of finance

July 27, 2013

Gebremedhin Araya, Perth, Australia

Translated by Yinegal Belachew, Ethiopia

Note from the translator ‘the hyena’s belly?’

It’s good to hear something from the horse’s mouth. This vitally important piece of my fellow Ethiopian, Gebre Medhin Araya, was written in Amharic and posted on some Ethiopian opposition websites. This article is all about the genocidal nature of TPLF, Tigrian People’s Liberation Front. The translation of this article is all about exposing the satanic behavior of this mafia before the English speaking Ethiopians, and, needless to go to that sensitive historical section, of course, if they wish before the “International Community” whose intrinsic interest seems to be all about happily observing an ethnic cleansing, especially of the ill-fated Amharas in Ethiopia. This hero, one of my Tigrian gods, a man who liberated himself from mundane ethnocentric and sanguineous fetters, had been one among the ‘Founding Fathers’ of TPLF and well knows the purpose of the establishment of this historically a

‹‹የቢሮ ፖለቲካ ስለበቃን ወደ ሕዝቡ ሄደን ማስተማርና መቀስቀስ አለብን›› አቶ አስራት ጣሴ፣ የአንድነት ፓርቲ ዋና ጸሐፊ

ሰሞኑን በኢትዮጵያ ተቃውሞ ፖለቲካ ጎራ ብዙም ባልተለመደ ሁኔታ የምርጫ ወቅት ከመድረሱ ‹‹እጅግ›› ቀደም ብሎ ሕዝባዊ ስብሰባና ሠልፍ እዚህም እዚያም እየተካሄደ ይገኛል፡፡ በቀጣይነትም በተለያዩ ፖለቲካዊ አጀንዳዎች ጥላ ሥር በርካታ ሠልፎችንና ሕዝባዊ ስብሰባዎችን ለመጥራት ዝግጅት እየተደረገ መሆኑ ታውቋል፡፡

ባለፉት ሳምንታት ሕዝባዊ ሠልፎችንና ስብሰባዎችን ካካሄዱ ተቃዋሚ ድርጅቶች መካከል በቅርቡ የተመሠረተው ሰማያዊ ፓርቲ፣ በተቃውሞ ፖለቲካ ውስጥ የጎላ ተሳትፎ ያለው አንድነት ለዲሞክራሲና ለፍትሕ (አንድነት) ፓርቲና የስድስት ፓርቲዎች ግንባር የሆነው የኢትዮጵያ ፌዴራላዊ ዲሞክራሲያዊ አንድነት መድረክ (መድረክ) ናቸው፡፡ እነዚህ የፖለቲካ ድርጅቶች በአዲስ አበባ፣ በመቀሌ፣ በጎንደርና በደሴ ከተሞች ሕዝባዊ ሠልፎችንና የተቃውሞ ስብሰባዎች አካሂደዋል፡፡ እነዚህ ድርጅቶች በቀጣይነትም በተለያዩ ቦታዎች የተቃውሞ አንቅስቃሴዎችን ለማካሄድ እየተዘጋጁ መሆኑ ታውቋል፡፡ ይህንን ወቅታዊ ጉዳይ በተመለከተ የመድረክ ሥራ አስፈጻሚ አባልና የአንድነት ፓርቲ ዋና ጸሐፊ አቶ አስራት ጣሴን ውድነህ ዘነበ አነጋግሯቸዋል፡፡ አቶ አስራት በኢትዮጵያ የተቃውሞ ፖለቲካ ዙርያ የነቃ ተሳትፎ ከሚያደርጉ ግለሰቦች መካከል ተጠቃሽ ናቸው፡፡ 

ሪፖርተር፡- ሰሞኑን የእርስዎ ፓርቲ በጎንደርና በደሴ የተቃውሞ ትዕይንተ ሕዝብ አካሂዷል፡፡ ፓርቲው ለሕዝቡ ምን ማሳየትና ምን ማድረግ ፈልጐ ነው ትዕይንቱን ያካሄደው?

የአማራ ብሔር ተወላጆች ዳግም ከጉራፈርዳ እየተፈናቀሉ ናቸው ተባለ

-    ሰማያዊ ፓርቲና መኢአድ ክስ እንመሠርታለን አሉ 

በደቡብ ክልል በቤንቺ ማጂ ዞን ጉራፈርዳ ወረዳ እየሩሳሌም ቀበሌ ገበሬ ማኅበር ውስጥ ነዋሪ የሆኑ የአማራ ብሔር ተወላጆች፣ ዳግም እየተፈናቀሉ መሆኑን ሰማያዊ ፓርቲና የመላው ኢትዮጵያ አንድነት ድርጅት (መኢአድ) አስታወቁ፡፡

ሁለቱ ፓርቲዎች ሐምሌ 18 ቀን 2005 ዓ.ም. በጋራ በሰጡት ጋዜጣዊ መግለጫ እንዳስታወቁት መንግሥት ቀደም ብሎ በጉራፈርዳ ወረዳ፣ በሸፒ ቀበሌና በተለያዩ ወረዳዎችና ቀበሌዎች ነዋሪ የነበሩት የአማራና የኦሮሞ ተወላጆች መፈናቀላቸውን ተከትሎ፣ መንግሥት በአፈናቃዮቹ ላይ ዕርምጃ እንደሚወስድ ቢያሳውቅም፣ ዜጐቹ ግን እስካሁን እየተፈናቀሉ መሆኑን ተናግረዋል፡፡

የመላው ኢትዮጵያ አንድነት ድርጅት ተወካይ አቶ ተስፋዬ ታሪኩ፣ ‹‹ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር ኃይለ ማርያም ደሳለኝ በኢትዮጵያ ቴሌቪዥን ቀርበው ለዓለም ሕዝብ ጭምር በሰጡት ማብራሪያ፣ ከቤኒሻንጉል ጉሙዝ እንዲፈናቀሉ የተደረጉ የአማራና የኦሮሞ (የዘር ማጥራት ወንጀል እንዳይመስል) ተወላጆችን ያፈናቀሉ ኪራይ ሰብሳቢዎች ላይ፣ መንግሥት ዕርምጃ እንደሚወስድና ተፈናቃዮችም ወደ ቀያቸው በአስቸኳይ እንደሚመለሱ የተናገሩ ቢሆንም ተግባራዊ አልሆነም፤›› በማለት አስረድተዋል፡፡

ቀደም ብሎ ከ21 ሺሕ በላይ የአማራ ተወላጆች ከተፈናቀሉበት፣ ከቤንቺ ማጂ ዞን ጉራፈርዳ ወረዳ እየሩሳሌም ቀበሌ ገበሬ ማኅበር ከሐምሌ 15 ቀን 2005 ዓ.ም. ጀምሮ የአማራ ብሔር ተወላጆች እየተፈናቀሉ መሆኑን ገልጸዋል፡፡