Light at the end of the tunnel for the “Dark Continent”? By Prof. Alemayehu G. Mariam

(Author’s note: This commentary appeared on  Pambazuka.org  on May 29, 2014 as part of a mid-century outlook on possible scenarios in Africa. I make my “predictions” debating myself as a political scientist and a defense lawyer.)

Is there light at the end of the tunnel for the “Dark Continent”?

“Making predictions is hard. Especially about the future”, said the famous American baseball player, Lawrence “Yogi” Berra facetiously. Likewise, predicting whether there is light at the end of the tunnel in 2050 and beyond is hard. Especially about the Dark Continent. Making predictions about Africa based on the facts of the last half century will surely make one a doomsayer. Not looking in the rear view mirror would make one a soothsayer. I am neither.

As a political scientist, I am grudgingly guided by the reputed “founding father” of “modern” political science, Nicolo Machiavelli, who instructed that “Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble those of preceding times.” Machiavelli took a dim view of the human capacity to learn from mistakes. He must have believed man is doomed to incorrigibility.

Crimes Against University Students and Humanity By Prof. Al Mariam

On May 2, 2014, BBC reported 

that the security forces of the regime in Ethiopia had massacred at least 47 university and high school students in the town of  Ambo 80 miles west of the capital Addis Ababa. The regime dismissed the massacre and tried to sweep it under the rug claiming that a “few anti-peace forces incited and coordinated the violence”.  There has been little international coverage or outrage over the massacre.Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a statement condemning the “shooting at and beating [of] peaceful protesters in Ambo, Nekemte, Jimma, and other towns”. According to HRW, the student “protests erupted over the release of the proposed Addis Ababa Integrated Development Master Plan” which would “expand Addis Ababa’s municipal boundary to include more than 15 communities in Oromia” and displace Oromo farmers and residents. HRW demanded an immediate end to the excessive use of force by the regime’s security forces against peaceful student demonstrators.

Ethiopia: Bloggers of the World, Unite!

by ERecycler

Today is the 25th day in jail for Zone 9 Bloggers in Ethiopia. They have not been charged; in fact, the government could not come up with reasonable cause for detaining the 6 bloggers and 3 journalists. It has now come to our attention that two have been tortured. All they did was blog about conditions in their own country. Corruption has gone out of control; in a decade beginning in 2001 $16.5 billions have been illicitly transferred to foreign banks [according to Washington, DC-based Global Financial Integrity]. There are chronic water, power and food shortages. The state security literally eavesdrops on telephone conversations and controls Internet connectivity making Ethiopia the least served in Africa. The ruling party took office through the barrel of the gun and divided the country arbitrarily along ethnic lines [and later orchestrated a sham elections that it won].

Ethiopia’s independent publishers may face another hurdle

A CPJ Guest Blogger

Newspapers are significant in Ethiopia because there are no other independent media sources in the country. (Ethiopia Forums)

>In what appears to be one of a collection of measures to silence the press ahead of 2015 elections, Ethiopian authorities in the Communications Ministry are preparing a new system to control the distribution of print media. Privately owned newspapers and magazines, possibly the only remaining independent news sources in the country, would face more state control if the proposal is set into motion.

Wikileaks documents on Meles Zenawi, Ethio-chinese relationship and oppositions

Wikileaks released hundreds of documents which specify Ethiopian internal issues. These E-letters corresponded by American embassy officers who personally know Meles Zenawi and other higher officials. It’s all about Meles Zenawi’s personality, Ethiopia Chinese relationship, Eng. Hailu Shawel, Lucy, Ethiopian prisons and more, Please Click here to read WikiLeaks documentation On Ethiopia.

The “Farce” of U.S. Diplocrisy

by Alemayehu G. Mariam

Is the Obama Administration’s human rights policy a “farce”?

Last week U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called Syrian president Bashar al-Assad a “terrorist” criminal and called Assad’s electoral plans a “farce”. “Assad’s is making partnership with terrorist elements, attracting terrorists and engaging in terrorist activities against his own people.” Assad’s planned presidential elections are “staged elections [that] are a farce. They’re an insult. They are a fraud on democracy, on the Syrian people and on the world.”