• Government need to demonstrate that it doesn’t tolerate wrong doing  

The response Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed gives to the question why his administration has failed to ensure a rule of law is most perplexing and also riddled with a fundamental problem of assumption. To the question he is repeatedly asked on why the government is not doing something about it, his response is “let us have some patience. This isn’t about being powerless.” He retorts by saying how can a government which has arms at its disposal be urged to resort to the use of force. In the “Addis wog” discussion held recently, as he has done several times, he forcefully reinstated his stance saying, “it is from the government that patience is most of expected.”

Honorable Prime Minister, what has patience to do with ensuring the rule of law? Where is the limit of your patience? At which point of impunity will your patience will begin to wear thin and you embark on the course of practicing the rule of law?

The complacency and tardiness manifested by this government to enforce the rule of law and the consequent death, displacement, and vandalism, the upsurge in illicit firearms circulation it has supposedly encouraged has been pointed out by the House of People’s Representatives (HPR) a few weeks ago. HPR has expressed in a strong term the executive branch of the government take the blame for failing to ensure the rule of law and order.

In my opinion, there are two reasons for such a wrong-headed outlook from a person of your statue,

• Your understanding of the rule of law is mistaken. Enforcing the rule of law doesn’t mean being an autocrat or using repressive tactics. It is rather about not using more force than the law allows. If there are conditions that force authorities to use force than the law currently permits, while acting with consideration of the rules, that question could be raised. But, inaction could lead to a state of anarchy to reign. If you are patiently waiting for all denizens to abide by the rule by their will, that time is unlikely to come. As a matter of fact, this would create an atmosphere that would encourage and embolden potential lawbreakers. When your patience runs out, it would be difficult to control. Doing nothing when banks are looted, civilians are executed and targeted because of their identity, this in no way can be described as patience. If patience is required, it is for those who demand their rights through peaceful and legal means or not for those thugs who rob banks and businesses.
• Secondly, such thinking could come from your propensity, albeit minimal, for authoritarian tendencies that have manifested itself from time to time. In your “patience” discourse there is something concealed which is its opposite, repression, and oppression. You have pointed out such likelihoods on many occasions and in a variety of settings. You told us that the government is capable of ensuring security, even special forces are being trained by foreign experts. If you mean to practice long–suffering until your muscle strengthens, that is not a good thing either. When strong leadership and anarchy combine, the result is well too obvious. That path, we have seen it all to the point of repulsion.

At the forum, after having expressed the government’s capability to take strong measures when it decides, in what seems some sort of mockery, Abiy told audiences about the need to participate in an unrelated clean-up campaign. This is either is to downplay the scale of the problem, saying it would not be out of control or to divert the attention from the real matter in discussion.

A call for respect for the rule of law does not mean the call for authoritarian rule

Here it must be stressed that a call for respect for the rule of law does not mean the call for authoritarian rule or heavy-handed suppression. It only means those who break the law should be punished in a legal, timely manner, and the administration should devise conflict prevention and solving mechanism using its large institution. The government should not tinker around the edges to ensure the rule of law.

Photos: https://twitter.com/PMEthiopia

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Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed stirred up hornet’s nest when he challenged agricultural professionals’ patriotism who asked for pay raise.

The Prime Minister, speaking in front of the 1,500 agriculture transformation leaders at a forum in Adama town of Oromia region on May 26 directly challenged their patriotism, after listening to their complaints of low wage, lack of bonuses, educational benefits.  

“What perplex me is the people demanding salary raise in every sector. Are they really Ethiopians?  The person who is asking for raise, knowing the country’s coffer is low, who is he? Is he Kenyan? Eritrean?” Abiy was quoted as saying by the Amharic Reporter that described the remark as “sour.”

“Instead of asking from one’s country, one should think of what it could give to it,” the Prime Minister added.

At the forum, the Prime Minister spoke of how the Ethiopian economy was on the brink of collapse last year. “The government’s coffer was so low that we were at the point where there was a dim prospect of completing the projects that were underway, not able to repay the debts we owed. We were forced to cut the annual budget by four percent. And the country was able to get a large amount of hard currency, the highest in fact in many years,” he was quoted as saying.

The remark linking being patriots and demanding pay raise drew attention on social media, some describing it as upsetting and distressing.  

Another lame remark angered health professionals on May 4, when the Prime Minister told them that their demands were not lodged with respect to the current economic status of the country, and telling “feminist physicians to focus only on treating women and mothers than promoting an agenda that we ourselves could handle.”

Photo: Office of the Prime Minister

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• The Amhara region says 5 civilians have been shot dead by armed men in Benshangul-Gumuz region

Armed ethnic Gumuz has killed five ethnic Amhara and injured four others in Benshangul-Gumuz, where ethnic violence cost hundreds of lives this year, a regional official said.

The victims, who had been sheltered in Almo refugee settlement for weeks, were on their way to cross into the Amhara region, loading their properties on a truck, according to Ayenew Belay, the Amhara region administrator’s advisor. Ayenew told the Amhara Mass Media Agency that the attack occurred in the village of Kota, located in Dangur woreda of Metekel Zone on Saturday evening. He said the four people with gunshot wounds are being treated at Pawe Hospital.

In a related incident, stones were thrown at the federal army members who were involved in the transport of corpses of the dead this morning and in a retaliatory measure, one other person was killed and three others wounded, according to Ayenew. Six members of the armed forces have been also been wounded, he said.

There has seen a surge in a conflict in recent months in the region with a pattern attack and counter-attack.

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Lake Ziway and Abiyata: Troubled waters

Bayush Sisay is not sure how long she will keep on working on. Her income from the small restaurant trade by which she supports her three children has greatly decreased. The 36-year-old-woman earns her livelihood by cooking and boiling fish soup, locally called Asa shorba, in around Lake Ziway, northernmost of the seven Ethiopian Rift Valley lakes, located some 130 km. south of Addis Ababa.

Bayush has her own shack with small seating areas where she serves clients soup, from fishes caught by local youth. Though she has been doing this for the past seven years, earning her livelihoods has become unattainable because of reduced fish catch. “Before the youth used to provide us with tilapia and other types of fish every morning and we cooked it fresh for clients who came to consume on the spot. Now this has become really hard. The fishermen have to go to the far side and bring some in the afternoon, if at all they manage. What they bring us, instead of cooking it fresh, we had to keep it in the refrigerator for the next day,” she says.

The local people and fishermen who have traditionally made their livelihood from the Ziway Lake say they are failing to eke out a living and are being forced to switch to other daily labour activities. “Some years before, there was a fairly plentiful supply of fish, we used to transport it using big trucks. Nowadays, the fish is in short supply,” Tamiru Girma, a resident of the area who blames the discharge of effluents from flower farms in the area says.

Those worries are genuine, experts agree. The Oromia Agricultural Research Institute Batu Fishery Research Center head, Lemma Abera says that the fish yield of the lake has reduced from 4500 to 6000 tons in 2016 to about 1,000 tons this year. The decrease is astounding as the primary productivity of the Lake was comparable to the other most productive lakes in Ethiopia. The Lake boasted of harbouring six fish species of commercial relevance, of which four are introduced species. Fish is a staple diet of the residents of the five islands that dot the lake, and people living the meadows along the shore.

The Ziway Lake is fed by two medium-size rivers which carry an immense volume of water during the spring and summer rains: the Maqi, which comes down from the Guraghe highlands to the north-west and the Katar which drains a large portion of the Arusi plateau directly to the east of the lake. It is drained by the Bulbula which empties into Lake Abijatta. The depth of the lake was 12 meters. Today, it is less than 4 metres, Lemma says. There is a wide agreement that falling water levels, pollution caused by agrochemicals, over-exploitation of fisheries as well as increasing settlement of population in the area are taking their toll on the only non-soda lake and its biodiversity.

Overfishing and environmental damage

Another serious yet less revealed threat looms: overfishing. Over the last decades fishing efforts have been intensified to an alarming degree, in part due to rapid population growth and open access nature of the fishery. The poor fisheries governance and the use of small mesh size, which capture juveniles and breeding stocks have aggravated the situation, causing the stocks to dwindle, experts say.

Increased salinity

Since the Ziway water is suitable for irrigation, peasants and private companies in the area are increasingly pumping it for irrigation, Bekele Wakijira, Expert at the Oromia region Environment Protection, Forest and Climate Change Authority. “The lake is now turning into a closed link, meaning the salinity level is increasing because of climate changes and other factors. The flow to Bulbula River is decreasing at an alarming rate and it might discontinue almost immediately,” he explains. Bekele says a wide variety of unregulated chemicals are ending up in the Lake. The chemicals mainly from the nearby flower farms are of concern because many have properties have devastating effects in animals and people, he says.

Water hyacinth

During the past four years, a new threat to the lake’s welfare has emerged after vast tracks of the lake has been conquered by water hyacinth, known in Ethiopia as Emboch. The invasive plant is spreading quickly, threatening the ecosystem, and the survival of the people living in the area, according to Lemma Abera. The aquatic weed is also plaguing Lake Tana, the largest lake in Ethiopia and the Koka Reservoir, a shallow artificial lake.

“This is distressing. Lake Ziway and the other lakes of the Rift Valley are the second important nesting sites in all of Africa for the great white pelican. Losing this waterbody means not only losing a tourist attraction but really bad for the local ecosystem. The lakes are interrelated, damage at one site does mean that damage at all the others,” says Bekele Wakijira.

Lake Ziway is not the only lake that said to be dying a slow death due to droughts, destruction of wetlands, siltation and invasion by the water hyacinth weed. Another Lake Abiyata, a salt lake water few kilometres from Ziway, is facing a similar fate as a result of the combined effects of deforestation and sediment build-up caused by the local soda ash factory. The average lake depth has decreased from 14 metres to 2m, Dr. Gemedo Dalle, Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for Ethiopia told Radio Fana on October 2018. Abiyata is famous for attracting numerous birds to its shores and an ideal place for viewing colonies of a pink flamingo. The lake could be dried out in the next two years, according to estimates.

As it now stands, at least two of the Rift Valley’s lakes are disappearing, and the responsible government bodies seem to be passively standing by. Some are coming up with a suggestion to hold accountable the flower farms in the region said to be responsible for the release of untreated water discharge. Bekele Wakijira mentioned the example of the Dutch Sher farm, which lies on 500 hectares, that discharges chemicals into the lake. He said this farm and the other flower farms should treat the water before they pump the wastewater into the lake.

Others say that is only part of the story. The lakes are suffering from thousands of wells and a proliferation of dams and irrigation projects that are diverting water from tributary rivers to grow strawberry, sugarcane and other crops. The experts have called on the government to change course before Ziway and other cherished lakes of the valley face extinction.

Main Image: Around the vicinity of Koka artifical lake, photo by Philippe Compain

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A senior journalist for the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC), Getachew Chane who has travelled to Canada with President Sahle-Work Zewde has disappeared, Ethiopia Observer has learned.

Getachew travelled to Vancouver, Canada, with the President Sahle-Work to attend the Women Deliver 2019 conference that kicked off on Monday. The four-day meeting was described as the world’s largest on gender equity and the rights of women and girls. Though the journalist did send one dispatch on the President’s arrival on June 2, he did not show up for the events that he was expected to cover, it was revealed. Colleagues say the journalist is planning to seek asylum in Canada.

Besides to his reporting work, Getachew has served as head of the documentary film section of EBC. As a journalist, he has been close to the regime and has prepared and narrated the controversial film, Jihadawi Harekat, which denounced Muslim leaders and activists for alleged links to foreign terrorists, which was aired on 2013. Getachew is the brother of Kebede Chane, Ethiopian Director General of Refugee and Returnee Affairs Agency.  

Image: President Sahle-Work Zewde holding discussion with Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, in Vancouver

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Frédéric Garnier, 72, is a retired French dentist who lives in the suburbs of Paris, Chantilly-Gouvieux. He spent his early parts of his life in the eastern town of Ethiopia, Dire Dawa, where his father was working for the Djibouti-Addis Ababa railway line. Coming back to the city and childhood home sixty years later with his wife and grown-up children, he was struck by the place that revived many fond memories-yet the inevitable changes left him feeling disoriented. He told Ethiopia Observer his story. (Video in French.)

I came to Ethiopia when I was two years old. We arrived by boat in Djibouti. Back then, there were no planes. The only civil airport in France was the Bourget. (A city located 7km north of Paris). We travelled on Cargo liner. We stopped at Port Said (Located in north-eastern Egypt at the spot where the Suez Canal joins the Mediterranean Sea.) We arrived in the port of Djibouti and disembarked. We took the train to Dire Dawa. My father was named the Controller of management of the Franco-Ethiopian Railway. So I lived from the age of two to the age of ten in Dire Dawa where he used to work and stay. At first, it was my mother who taught me to write and read at home, of course. Then I went to the school of the l’Alliance Française which was located a few streets away. I had Ethiopian, American, Italian, Greek and Armenian friends. And then I went to the French Mission which was a further away from where I learned the catechism. I made my first communion, my confirmation. The classes at the Alliance Française were in the morning, they started around 7 or 8 in the morning until noon. In the afternoon, I returned on foot from the Alliance Française to my home which was located just next to Empire Cinema, which is still there, not far from the Greek Church.

In the afternoon, I went to the stadium, which was 200 metres walk. I played with my friends. Then, I would go back home. Water for the bath had to be heated in a heater that worked on a wood fire. I had a nanny called Elizabeth whom I liked very much. I lived like that until my ten years.

During the holidays, we went to Harar, stayed at Ras Hotel, which was then surrounded by trees and garden but unfortunately today by concrete building. I used to go Addis, since my father was a controller, when he did his duty from Addis to Djibouti, he would add a wagon with berths. We would leave late at night and we would arrive in Djibouti on the next morning. In Djibouti, we stayed at what then was called a rest house which was located on the beachside. I learned to swim in the Indian Ocean. We could not walk barefoot on the sand because the sand burned one’s feet. I had to put shoes. When I went to Addis, I was happy because it was an occasion to wear trousers because of the damp chill of Addis. Similarly, we had a rest house just in Addis close by La Gare. We used to eat at the Buffet de la Gare which was owned by a Greek man we used to call Papa George. So I lived like that until ten years old. It was paradise on earth. At age ten, my parents did not want they I joined Addis Lycée, even though there were friends who proposed to host me. Thus, I came to France to continue my schooling. In one shot, I found myself, in Nogent-sur-Marne, (a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris). My parents stayed in Ethiopia. I saw them every six months. I had my sister who came to look for me every weekend and bring me back every Monday. During a very long time, I’ve been wanting to go to Ethiopia for some time. I could not do it because people said, ‘there were dangers, there were demonstrations, conflict’. The fact that Emperor Haile Selassie was disposed of and replaced by the Derg, because of those things, we were not all sure. Thus, I waited, I waited for years. Finally, I ended up deciding in 2017, that means 60 years later. Even then, we heard there were demonstrations in the Oromia region. I said if I listened to all that, I would never go back. We returned there thanks to an agency called Monpays Tours that organized the trip that I wanted to do. I returned with all my children. They were able to see where I passed my childhood.

We first went sightseeing in the south of the country, then to the east, Awash, which was crossed by the railroads. We found Madame Kiki’s pizzeria. (A Greek woman who used to run the restaurant, Buffet d’Aouache for more than 60 years. ‘Aouache’ being the French spelling of Awash.) Then we headed to Harar, a city which I found has not much changed, at least the old town. On the other hand, Ras Hotel, there is no longer a green space around it. I was also disappointed to find about the fate of Lake Haromaya because i had memories of stopping by between Dire Dawa and Harar.  Today, it has not more than its name, as it is all dry.

After Harar, we went down to Dire Dawa. I had the impression of finding all turns, the rocks with the elephants shape in it, excreta. Arriving in Dire Dawa we spent the night in a hotel whose names escape me now. In the terrace of the hotel, I saw the two towers of the Greek church. I said, ‘here I am at home’. The next morning we went off to see the house. We were with a guide called Abay Seyoum. At this moment, it was me who guided him. I recognized everything. Everything has been engraved, those happy days in Dire Dawa. We went on foot from the hotel. We went past the Greek Church, past Cinema Empire, and we arrived at my house.

I found my house and I rang. Thanks to a contact I had, I was told we could visit it. The current tenants were nice and welcoming, I was told. I managed to visit the inside of my childhood home. It has changed a lot, the garden. There are several things that no longer exists. The garden was in the state of abandon. Had my mother has seen the garden, she would have been sad. Escorted by the owner, we visited the interior of the house. I found my bedroom. They transformed the window into a bay. We walked through the bathroom, the kitchen. There was a veranda where I started learning to ride a bike. The living room. We went around the house on the other side. It used to give a view to the banana tree. Now, it gives on nothing at all. There was always the garage. There was a big flamboyant tree in which I climbed. But it was dead, it was cut, I learned. The owner’s son told me that when he was a kid, he used to climb up that tree. That was fun.

So, finding the house and showing to my children was a great moment. We went on foot to the l’Alliance Française. We were welcomed by the school director who made us visit it. I found the class where I was in C.P. (the first grade of primary school in France). We also saw kids who are learning. That was also a great moment. It was the classroom i attended while i was six. And then we continued on foot until the Catholic Mission. Abay arranged for me to meet Joseph Petros, the former president of l’Alliance éthio-française. We discussed a lot. It was very nice to find him.

We, of course, visited the railroad yard. The train line has stopped running, including the wagons of goods. Now there is only a line to transport goods between Djibouti and Dire Dawa. The compound is almost abandoned.

Next, we headed to the stadium, where I had fun when I was a child. I also tried to go to the hospital. Because some of the physician’s children had been close to me but the guardian refused to let us enter. We did all this, all the same.

That evening my children celebrated my 70^th birthday at the hotel with a candle put on papaya. I think it was a moment when I cried. It was extraordinary. Then we returned to Addis Ababa. We also visited La Gare in Addis because I had also memories of it. I went often to Addis. I discovered Buffet De La Gare, which is today owned by other persons. We were with railwaymen. We played pétanque (the game of boules) with them. It was also a pleasant moment. And then I visited the train car of the Nigus. Unfortunately, the lounge car we used with my father, it no longer exists. It was all ruined.  Here is, the next day I would leave for home. Now I wish to go back to Ethiopia to do sightseeing in the north of the country.

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McKay, Claude. Amiable with Big Teeth: A Novel of the Love Affair Between the Communists and the Poor Black Sheep of Harlem. New York: Penguin Classics, 2017. 368 pp, paperback $13.65, ISBN-10: 9780143132219, ISBN-13: 978-0143132219.

Amiable with Big Teeth was written in 1941 by Claude McKay, a legend in the African American literary movement known as the Harlem Renaissance. Amiable has the distinction of being the only novel McKay composed on American soil, the rest resulting from his years in Europe, North Africa, or even native Jamaica. The draft took four months to complete, its storyline inspired by the life of a recently deceased Pan-Africanists: Dr. Malaku Bayen of Ethiopia. Amiable did not make it to print in McKay’s lifetime. Traces of the manuscript vanished after a negative feedback from E. P. Dutton, at least until graduate student Jean-Christophe Cloutier stumbled into it in the archives of Columbia University in 2009. It would take another eight years of vetting before Cloutier, with co-editor Brent Hayes Edwards, was able to publish the novel with a richly detailed and informative introduction.

Set in Harlem of the mid-1930s at the time of the second Italo-Ethiopian war, Amiable revolves around the rivalries and intrigues within the Ethiopian defense campaign: racial nationalists on the one hand and interracial Communists on the other. The 1930s represented the peak of the Communist Party influence in the United States. Like all colonial expansions before it, the American left presented a class analysis of the Italo-Ethiopian war, turning it into a powerful tool of political agitation. In a parallel move, the racial nationalism of Marcus Garvey had already demonstrated that African Americans could be organized into a formidable grassroots movement. To such nationalists, who held a dim prospect of interracial integration, in the latest African tragedy lay at stake the future of an entire race, hence its value as a rallying Pan-African platform.

As a historical fiction, Amiable can be approached from different angles. For some, Amiable’s elaborate cocktail parties, freewheeling intellectuals, and status-conscious housewives draw attention to the social history of elite Harlemites that a mainstream narrative of the Great Depression neglects. Others highlight passages in Amiable that conjure images of a great African past, a reminder that Afrocentric thought was as rich and alive in the first half of the twentieth century as it was in the second. And for still others, Amiable might read as a critique of the self-indulgent left, such as of its romanticized role in the legal defense of the Scottsboro Boys, or of the idolization of Communist Jan Erlone as the selfless hero in Richard Wright’s Native Son.

The role of Ethiopia as a pawn in the politics of the League of Nations is well known.

Ethiopianists appreciate Amiable differently. In McKay’s unflattering treatment of the schemes and designs of the Comintern (Communist International) is a blueprint of what would befall Ethiopia decades later. The role of Ethiopia as a pawn in the politics of the League of Nations is well known. What McKay’s treatment of the Italo-Ethiopian war reveals is how Africa first entered Soviet foreign-policy consciousness, presciently setting the stage for Cold War rivalries over the old continent decades later.

Having spent the year 1922 in Moscow, McKay’s insider knowledge of Stalinism comes naturally. Less critical is his treatment of the Ethiopian government, which he feels was a victim of an international smear campaign. In his earlier nonfiction work, Harlem Negro Metropolis, McKay had observed how newspaper articles tried to discourage blacks from closing ranks with Ethiopians by insisting that the latter were “not Negroes.” In Amiable, an anthropology professor invokes the age-old Hamitic theory to lend credence to such claims. “Ethiopians don’t think so,” retorts back the Haile Selassie official present. “We call ourselves a black African nation.” The archaic race debate picks up again at a church venue where an Afrocentrist luminary tries to settle it through the words of Herodotus, Volney, and Champollion. “What you all should know is also what the Ethiopians should know about themselves,” he challenges. “Then they will fight better and  you will help more.”

The story that McKay tells in Amiable unfolds at the height of the war, between December 1935 and May 1936. This does not prevent subtle flashbacks, such as weaving into the fiction an actual scandalous incident from the year before. That was the sensational story of Ms. Islin Harvey, an obscure Harlem soloist turned international celebrity, thanks to a savvy Broadway promoter. As Princess Rossari Heshla Tamanya of Ethiopia, Ms. Harvey made her debut in the big dailies, and it was only after formal complaints by the Ethiopian ministry of foreign affairs that the New York Times realized that it had been duped. In Amiable, Princess Tamanya reincarnates as Princess Benebe Hoax, the brainchild of a Soviet spy instead of a local empresario. It was an example of how McKay could stretch a fact to spin a good tale, in this case using it as proof of the Communists’ evil genius.

Amiable’s central character is the Europe-educated aristocrat turned government envoy at large. He is Lij Tekla Alamaya, a name as evocative as it is exotic. Bajirond Tekla Hawariat was the Ethiopian representative at the League of Nations, a name familiar to contemporary newspaper readers. Prince Alemayehu, whose burial site at Windsor Castle McKay must have visited while living in Britain, was the son of Emperor Tewodros who ended up in Europe as a tragic war captive. References to the dashing, youthful and olive-skinned Tekla resonate with the little-known Lij Tesfaye Zaphiro, the half-Greek Ethiopian who for a few months dominated the fund-raising scene in North America.

McKay’s reason for not using the more famous Malaku Bayen as a proto-type is a point worth commenting. First, in August 1935, right after completing his medical degree at Howard University, Dr. Malaku had joined the American mission hospital in Addis Ababa. He would not return to the United States until a year later, by which time much of the pro-Ethiopian momentum had dissolved. Second, McKay knew the Bayens closely. Dorothy Hadley Bayen had served as a key informant for his Harlem Negro Metropolis, in which a picture of her husband was included along with glowing praise for his Pan-African career. Understandably, Amiable chose not to dwell on the memories of a recently deceased friend, opting for a Tekla that was a composite of several personalities.

In one instance, however, the literary value of Malaku outweighs other considerations. The Bayens had returned to the United States in September 1936, their fund-raising mission endorsed by a letter bearing the imperial seal of Haile Selassie. To a public wary of pretenders and racketeers, the official paper would immediately take on an almost sacral significance. Inspired, McKay would build the central plot of the story around the palace artifact, and to great literary success.

Amiable thus opens as Lij Tekla, armed with the above commendation, shows up in Harlem just few months into the Italo-Ethiopian war. His arrival is timely as the two pro-Ethiopian groups (the Pan-Africanist Hands to Ethiopia and the Communist-run Friends of Ethiopia) are in a mortal contest for legitimacy. Since it is the one hosting the diplomat, the Hands to Ethiopia expects on winning the support of the Harlem masses. Surprise happens. The Friends of Ethiopia manages to steal the priceless royal souvenir at a dinner party. A few days later, its newspaper resorts to a character assassination denouncing Tekla as an imposter. Unable to defend himself without credentials, Tekla would not only cancel his fund-raising tour with the president of the Hands to Ethiopia, he would also surrender to the Communists’ demand that he join their Friends of Ethiopia.

The lesson drawn is obvious. The machination and intrigue manifested by Friends of Ethiopia, thanks to Soviet agent Maxim Tasan, allows McKay to expose the duplicitous and authoritarian nature of the radical left. Communists are neither colorblind nor progressive; or they so appear to be only from the outside. When pressed by Tekla for an explanation why the Soviets continued to trade with Italy despite their antifascist rhetoric internationally, Tasan betrays his true racist self: “What do you know or understand about treaties and diplomatic action among civilized peoples?” he rants. “Ethiopia is only a land of howling black savages, over-sexed cannibals with many wives gorging themselves with raw meat. … You ought to be glad and grateful if the Comintern takes a human interest in Ethiopia.”

The novel concludes around the time of the fall of Addis Ababa. That was when, in a blunt volte–face, the Communists wrote off Ethiopia as a lost cause and turned their energy to the Spanish Civil War. That the Ethiopian underground resistance continued unabated made no difference. Rather, whatever resources were collected in the name of Ethiopia were diverted to Republican Spain along with empty battle cries: “Fight for Spain to Free Ethiopia”; … “If Spain Wins Freedom, Ethiopia Will Obtain Liberty”; “Stop the Fascists in Spain and Block Them in Africa.”

The story reads like a cautionary tale to a generation yet to come.

McKay’s 1941 novel will continue to be celebrated, and rightly so, as a sociopolitical commentary on the 1930s. When set against what Ethiopia went through in the second half of the twentieth century, however, the story reads like a cautionary tale to a generation yet to come. In explaining the Communists’ embrace of violence as an ordinary political tactic, McKay writes, “they’re assassins in ambush. When they were hounded by the Czarists they developed that offensive weapon. And when they got the power they could not rid themselves of it, for it had become an ineradicable attribute of their minds, which carried it over into their new system.” What happened in Ethiopia in the mid-1970s was exactly that. Barely ten weeks in power, the Derg resorted to a summary execution of scores of former top officials then under detention. It was a sinister act that left in its wake a cynical appreciation of violence as politics by other means, and which eventually paved the path for the genocidal Red Terror.

Thus, it is in post-1974 Ethiopia that Amiable finds its most real and enduring relevance. Before World War II, Soviet propagandists had tried to revolutionize rural and urban African American masses in the name of colorblind ideology. Yet it was in Cold War Ethiopia in which Pan-African nationalism and Communist internationalism made strange bedfellows. Likewise, the “self-determination thesis” which the Stalinists tried to apply to the so-called American Black Belt never took roots. By contrast, nations and nationalities comprise the building block of Ethiopian federalism today, a carryover from the days of the radical student movement.

Why were educated Ethiopians unable to grow out of the imprisonment of dogma unlike their African American counterparts?

Beyond its prophetic insight, McKay’s novel raises profound existential questions. Why were educated Ethiopians unable to grow out of the imprisonment of dogma unlike their African American counterparts? Why were such intellectuals more interested in the apocalyptic rhetoric of Marx and Lenin than the humanistic values of their own tradition? Two possible answers conclude this review. First, an open Ethiopian society, a sine qua non for a vibrant intellectual culture, would have allowed for the market place of ideas to flourish and for some of those quaint worldviews to go out of circulation on their own. Second, in line with Messay Kebede’s classic thesis, Ethiopian political culture would have evolved in a healthier and more linear fashion if its modernization project had not succumbed to a Eurocentric preoccupation. Superficially acquainted with the cynical experience of the global black left, its change-minded students lacked a broader framework with which to critically analyze the racial hypocrisy of the East. With an exaggerated sense of exceptionalism, they were left reinventing the proverbial wheel of a nonexistent utopia, the end of which was a vicious cycle of violence and a collective downward spiral as a nation.

References:

Claude McKay, Harlem: Negro Metropolis (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1940), pp. 175-177.

“Ethiopian Princess Sees World War,” New York Times, July 14, 1935.

“Princess is Disavowed,” New York Times, July 23, 1935.

“Haile’s Doctor Arrives to Solicit Ethiopia Funds,” New Journal and Guide, October 3, 1936.

“Haile Selassie Nephew is Snubbed by New York Hotel,” Pittsburgh Courier, October 3, 1936.

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The campaign for Sidama autonomy, which has been going on for some years, gained momentum when the Zone Administration in Hawassa voted for statehood a year ago.  However, the tactics employed by the elites to exert pressure for the cause is leaving the rights and freedoms of other numerous ethnic groups in the region in limbo.

The violence occurring on a daily basis in Ethiopia’s southern regional state makes one say so much for an idea of a republic, so much for federalism. 25 million people have been denigrated and the land turned into a fertile ground for brutal and lawless elements. Numerous ethnic groups living in Hawassa are being confronted with an everyday terror to which they have become numb.

When Wolayita ethnic groups have been burned alive in Hawassa city some months ago, many of us pretended such cruelty did not happen. While other ethnic groups living in the region suffered the same condemnation and virulent attacks, their properties confiscated and forced to leave, we have turned a blind eye.

The general population in the region was unable to defend itself, left its hands tied behind its back by the chain of the federal administration or authorities assigned by affiliation. A gang of criminals continues making threats of torching newcomers alive, attack them with a machete, in the face of the law enforcement’s inability and weakness. The law-abiding citizens have been viewed as meek.

And we need not go far to find the proofs. The region’s symbol of sovereignty, House of Representatives meeting has been belittled, dishonoured and the members who represented thousands of people have been beaten and ended up in hospital. The region’s flag has been pulled down from the flagpole and burned on bonfires.

A few weeks ago, a number of investors, merchants, and business persons have been unlawfully threatened to close their business for three days. They had been menaced that they would be chased out from the city, abandoning their properties and capital, after the establishment of the Sidama statehood. There was not a government body who gave a hoot about such threats.

To this day, the humiliation and harassment continue. When the Wolaita Dicha sport club players and supporters showed up at Hawassa City a few weeks ago, many ethnic Wolaita, Kambata and Hadia, including children who made their living selling kollo (roasted grain), sugarcane were violently attacked, were driven out to their zones.

This is happening in a country where we are claiming the rights of various ethnic groups are respected and where we keep singing the tune of ‘diversity is our beauty.’ If the truth be told, the lowly act and effrontery witnessed in the southern region could not even have been attempted in the other bigger regions of Chefe Oromia, Amhara or Tigray region’s House of Representatives.

The everyday experiences of people in the southern region testify to appalling violations the basic principles, despite the political rhetoric of mutual tolerance, respect, and unity. As African-American right activists say ‘Black Lives Matter’, the lives of Woliyata, Gamo and Kambata matter too.

If it is not addressed, the climate of political disorder that gripped the region will not be restricted there. It will spread to the other regions and could plunge the entire country into all the horrors of blood.

Hawassa has always been a melting pot, where various ethnic groups mingled. It was built and urbanized not only by the Sidama, Woliyaita, Gamo, Hadiya, Silte, and Guraghe ethnic groups but also by the Amhara, Oromo, Tigre and Somali and the flow of financial support of federal level.

Any ethnic group has the right to demand its own region. But this has to be done in accordance with the law, without violating the rights and freedoms of others. Acts of violence and aggression in the name of the self-rule or statehood cause cannot be tolerated in any way.

Ethiopia has a moral and legal obligation to treat many of its people equally, by providing protection and upholding a system of justice. Before lawlessness becomes a serious nationwide political threat, the government should demonstrate its commitment to ensuring the rule of law and taking a more assertive response. Citizens should also say not to unchecked violence and mayhem.

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• Government says situation under control

Press Secretary at the Prime Minister Office Nigussu Tilahun says there was an attempted coup in Amhara regional state on late Saturday. He says a “well-organized group” has attempted to overthrow the regional government but security forces deployed by the federal government have repelled it and controlled the situation. He also said order has been given to arrest the instigators and to restore order. A statement from the office of the Prime Minister also condemned the action, saying it was anti-constitutional and one that “poses threat to the peace and security of the region that people have been fighting to preserve.”

Witnesses told DW Amharic that gunfire was heard in Bahir Dar town starting from 6.30 PM for about half an hour. The explosions heard in around the region’s police commission headquarter, the region’s Council bureau and office of the chief administrator of the region, it was said.

Certain media reported some officials were injured in the attack, including Ambachew Mekonnen, president of the Amhara Regional State but there is no official confirmation to this. Addis Fortune on its Twitter feed wrote that the person who has sustained severe wound was the Attorney General of the Regional State, Megbaru Kebede

Social media has been restricted in the regional capital, Bahir Dar and telephone services were hardly operating, Dw reported.

Who is behind the coup?

The Amhara Democratic Party (ADP) later issued a statement saying former military general and Amhara’s security head, Asaminew Tsige is behind the attempted coup. Asaminew was welcomed to the central committee of ADP on October 2018, after he was released from prison as part of the release of political prisoners by Abiy Ahmed’s administration and he was made to retire with all benefits, his titles reinstated.

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• US reports of gunfire in Addis Ababa

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has said that the military’s Chief of Staff, General Seare Mekonen has been physically attacked, although he did not provide clarifications.

In a televised speech delivered after midnight wearing a military uniform, Prime Minister Abiy said there have been fatalities and injuries in Bahir Dar’s attempted coup on the same day.

Abiy said that the attack on Seare was connected to the coup attempt in Bahir Dar. “While he was coordinating and leading response to the coup with the strong sense of mission, people in his close entourage and bought by hired elements have attacked the beloved and respected chief of General Staff,” he said.

The individuals who carried out the attack have been arrested, Abiy said.

In related news, the US Embassy in Ethiopia reported gunfire in Addis Ababa on Saturday evening. In a travel alert, the US State Department said that Chief of Mission personnel had taken shelter in place. «Employ sound security practices, remain aware of your surroundings, including local events, avoid large gatherings and demonstrations; monitor local news stations; and follow the instructions of local authorities,” it wrote on Twitter.

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• The chief of staff of the army, Gen Seare Mekonnen, has been shot dead

The Amhara Mass Media reported that president of the Amhara regional state Ambachew Mekonnen and the region’s goverment advisor Ezez Wassie had been killed. Both were killed from “gunshot injuries sustained,” according to the report. The Regional Attorney General Migbaru Kebede has also sustained heavy injuries and is currently underogoing medical treatment, it was reported. “The attempted coup and attacks on the leadership of the Amhara Regional Government President was orchestrated by Brigadier General Asaminew who has been serving as the region’s government’s Peace and Security Bureau head, in collaboration with other individuals. Many of the individuals involved in the attacks have been arrested and there is an ongoing operation to arrest the remaining,” a statement from the Office of the Prime Minister disclosed on Sunday.  

The Mekele-based Dimtse Woyane reported that Ethiopia’s military’s Chief of Staff, Seare Mekonen had been killed along with another retired senior military general, Gezai Abera. The Office of the Prime Minister disclosed both were killed within the residence of General Seare. “This fatal attack was committed by General Seare’s bodyguard who has also been arrested,” the statement reads.

The executive committee of Tigray Liberation Front has sent condolences for the lost lives, Dimtse Woyane reported. At midnight, Prime Minister Abiy appeared on state TV to announce that the army chief of staff had been attacked as the government thwarted the attempted coup.

(Ethiopia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Gedu Andaragachew returned home from Germany today, cutting short a visit there, according to reports.)

(Picture: Gen Seare Mekonnen shaking hands with Prime Minister Abiy a few weeks back.)

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The chief of staff of Ethiopia’s army, the president of Amhara region and two other senior officials, another retired general have been shot dead over two separate attacks in what the prime minister’s office branded as “an orchestrated coup attempt.” Questions linger on why the government insists on calling it a ‘coup’ while the circumstances show that is not the case.

The government has to be commended for containing the situation and ensuring the security of Bahir Dar area. Much more bloodshed would have occurred had the situation degenerated into chaos. Based on the information that is coming out, there have been disagreements between the Amhara region’s security chief General Asaminew Tsige and the administration over issues of safeguarding the region’s stability. The regional and federal government have clearly stated the attack has been carried out by the General. Yet to understand the nature and reasons behind the attack requires knowing many details. And questions must be asked.

It is not at all clear what the government’s purpose has been in hastily reaching the conclusion that the whole thing has been a “coup.” To say that someone who has a vast experience in the military such as General Asaminew would think of seizing power by murdering regional leaders is highly dubious. How much power does he possess that lead him to believe that he could succeed in controlling the region’s security force and declaring his own unilateral independent government? Even he manages to do that, how is it possible to argue that he could possibly entertain the thought of governing the region, defying the federal army?  

The fact that it has been framed as coup d’état instead of assassinations of officials has helped the case to garner wider international attention. A military coup would harm the country’s international image, making investment and tourists more difficult to attract. Any responsible government should have taken careful consideration before casting the affair in such manner even in the presence of strong evidence for the sake of the image of the country, let alone one in the absence of sufficient and solid evidence.

By labelling the event as a coup from the beginning the intention of the government seems to make us believe us it would investigate it independently. It gives also the impression that there are political objectives that the state is trying to achieve behind it. We cannot be sure if it was not deliberately characterised as such with the intention of cracking down the nationalist opponents that are gaining ground in the region. If that is indeed the intention of the government, to benefit this episode to get rid of the opposition who have no direct involvement in the event, this could only aggravate the situation. There is no question that the utmost care must be taken to avoid such mistakes.

The link between the attack in Bahir Dar and the Chief of Staff Seare and ex-officers’ assassination in Addis Ababa is not clearly established. General Asaminew is experienced enough to understand as to who is in charge of the army and claiming that he would order the shooting of Seare does not hold much water. It is also hard to buy the argument that someone who is associated with the prisoner-turned-security head of a regional state would be hired to be a guard to the Chief of Staff. The narrative that the late General Seare was spending time with a retired friend at his place while leading a counter-coup operation that was happening Bahir Dar is also questionable. Maybe the argument that the killing was orchestrated by hostile groups that used the advantage to exterminate him could be more palatable. If the government continues connecting it with General Asaminew, it has a mountain to climb in order to convince us.

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The bodyguard who was reported to have killed himself in Addis Ababa on Saturday after shooting army chief of staff Seare Mekonnen along with another retired general Gezai Abera is in the hospital recovering injury, the Ethiopian Federal Police Commission announced.

Contradicting its previous announcement that the bodyguard shot himself shortly after assassinating the generals, the Federal Police Commission said he is still alive. In a statement it issued on the national TV this evening, the Commission said that the bodyguard is in the hospital recovering injury. Earlier this morning head of Ethiopian Federal Police Commission Endeshaw Tasew told the media that the bodyguard committed suicide. Yet another statement from the Office of the Prime Minister on Sunday alleged he was in custody.

The inconsistencies in government declarations are fueling extravagant rumors on social media. An activist and a rights defender Getachew Gebrekiros published on his Twitter feed saying that the stronghold of the enduring conspiracies in Ethiopia is the government itself. “The deliberate internet shutdown, the contradictory official press statements and the evident deceptions barraged by the PM have not abetted the intrigue to confuse the people,” he wrote.

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A shocked public has been grasping for answers to what could have driven Saturday’s appalling attacks in Amhara’s regional capital of Bahir Dar and in Addis Ababa. All sorts of rumours are flying, some of which continue to be believed by many. Though some of the information in my hands is good enough to draw a conclusion, I will refrain from commenting on specific issues but rather try to point out the current situation of the country and what i feel are the reasons for the impasse so that it could serve as a springboard to dialogue.

A lot has been done to fan the flames of division and sectarianism among the Ethiopian population in the past three decades. Unfortunately, that has continued unabated in the past year, even after the appointment of the reformist administration, with certain mainstream media, extremist ethno-nationalist regional entities, ethnic activists, and the social media playing their part in augmenting the smouldering animosity that eventually burst into violent flame.

A floundering political transition

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said that some regions inappropriately use their budget to feed their militias.

But most importantly the causes that lead us to the current turmoil are:

-The federal government’s negligence and failing in fulfilling its responsibilities of ensuring the rule of law as enshrined in the Constitution.

-The federal government’s failing in structuring its relations with regional states, watching these states silently while their leaders continue developing their own independent bases of power, flex their muscles and possess unrestrained power as if they are autonomous entities.

-Allowing regions to construct their own special forces and armed militias that are strengthened with massive military weapons and manpower. The federal government, instead of assuming control, leaves the state of affairs for the regions. At a recent meeting in Dessie town, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said that some regions inappropriately use their budget to feed their militias.

-The role and relationship between the Defence Forces, Special Forces, militia and the federal and regional police lack clarity and the subsequent growth of competitive tendencies among them are met with the inaction of the federal government.

-The tentative and adversarial relationship among regional states that have not been addressed in a timely manner owing to the passivity of the state.

-The criteria for selection of the appointment of the top echelon of the region’s security forces was not studied properly. The fact that the Tigray region appointed Getachew Assefa as the region’s security chief, the subsequent appointments in the Amhara and Oromia regions were done not in consideration of harmonious and peaceful coexistence between different communities but with the mindset of hostility and confrontation.

All those and a mix of reasons contributed to plague the reform process and undermine its credibility. In other challenges of this reform, the national consensus that has not been properly managed, the issue of accountability and reconciliation that remains to be addressed are making us witnesses to such tragedies again and again. Hence, not moving with a sense of urgency to redress those problems mean the reform process is facing at least two potential dangers.

The lopsided scale of justice

1/ It seems that the human rights abuses and violations committed in the past three decades are squarely blamed on certain individuals. While few were made to carry the burden of all sins and found themselves prosecuted, thousands of other higher and lower-ranking officials who have perpetuated similar criminal acts have been largely left unpunished. Many of them continue holding high positions with no qualms and even displaying a self-righteous attitude. The lopsided justice system that targets certain individuals while leaving other violators without redress means many have gone unrepentant, failing to express remorse. Yesterday’s tormentors and torturers in notorious jails have now turned into holy appointees who are preaching about love and peace.

2/ On the contrary, some of the people who have been harassed, persecuted and beaten, before their physical injury and physiological wounding have been healed, have been appointed to key posts in what looks like an instrument of recompense and reward. Others have been in a period of waiting for compensation of some sort for their wounds. Still, others joined the transition team with feelings of rancour.

Unaddressed grievances

The reform team has been preoccupying itself with other matters before creating the mechanism by which to establish a shared sense of right and wrong, to maintain a relationship between the victim and the aggressor based on truth and reconciliation. Without reconciling the feelings of rancour and animosity, embarking upon the task of nation-building is a futile endeavor but one that would have grave consequence. The uncomfortable truths about the past cannot be discarded by political speech that looks like a sermon and mere words of promise. The only path is by achieving truth, justice and reconciliation.

The reform process has been caught in a series of dilemmas and the signs of impending dangers were clearly there. When the Tigray region decided to appoint Getachew Assefa as the regions’ security chief, the man who perpetuated criminal acts during his tenure as the country’s intelligence office was one sign. Subsequently, the Amhara region decided to appoint General Asaminew Tsgie, the person who has suffered right abuse by the order of Getachew, as the regions’ security chief. Kemal Gelchu who defected to Eritrea, after pushed out by the regime and harbouring resentment, has been named the head of the Oromia security chief upon his return. A leadership that wishes to lead the nation toward peace and unity would not in way assign these three men for such key posts.

To sum it up, the prospects for genuine reform is being undermined, in large part by the complacency of the elite, costing the country a tremendous lot. It is high time for the Abiy administration to do a proper diagnosis of the situation and develop an effective strategy to redress the problems in the wake of this turmoil. One flagrant failure of the administration has been not able to mend its broken relationship with the Tigray region. Just saying the country is on the path of change while leaving the Tigray people under the captivity of TPLF could only be a joke.

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Ethiopia has buried its top regional officials in Bahir Dar, its chief of the army staff and another general in Mekele and the alleged coup leader in Lalibela. This was the first time the country has lost such large number of officials and generals at one time since the failed coup d’état against Mengistu Hailemariam in 1989.

In the wake of this incident, the government rounded up around 212 suspects that it says were involved in the ‘coup or takeover of state power’ attempt in the Amhara region and 43 others in Addis Ababa, according to official figures. The arrests included members of the National Movement of Amhara (NAMA), activists affiliated with Baladera Council, a group opposed to what it saw as the dominance of the Oromo in Addis Ababa and even journalists, sparking fear that the government might be using the incident as pretext to launch purges of rivals from the Amhara people who were perceived to be a threat to the administration and to keep NAMA off the ballot in the coming election.

The underlying intention for the twin attack in Bahir Dar and Addis Ababa in which three regional officials were killed and the army chief and a retired general were killed, whether they were part of the same plot remains uncertain. Government officials previously said they were connected but later said a further investigation was required to find out whether that is indeed the case. However, the government has been consistent in its claim that it has put down an attempt at a military coup, a claim that remains contested by many who suggest it might have been low-scaled and unplanned violence. Beyond the dispute, many agree that the incident revealed the vulnerability of the system to domestic power conflict and ethnic competition.

Crackdown against suspects, concerns

The government’s crackdown on suspects has been hailed by some as sending a long-overdue message in the face of lawlessness and erosion of order. “The government should have taken measures beforehand. The first task of the state should be ensuring the rule of law and order. The political game comes later,” said Yeshiwas Assefa, chairperson of the newly formed Ethiopian Citizens for Social Justice.

However, there is a widespread feeling that the Amhara would be a target of the crackdown. Major Dawit Wolde Giorgis, currently head of the Namibia-based the Africa Institute for Strategic and Security Studies, published a statement with some strong words, saying that “Though Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) claim to have buried Amhara, broken its spine so that it won’t ever recover, its reawakening after it has started to mobilize its identity has caused its enemies great terror. since Amhara resurgence and organization is a beacon of hope for all Ethiopia nations, it has been a target of a coordinated campaign, both covert and overt,” he wrote.

‘A government job’

A conspiracy theory surfaced online which persists that the federal government was complicit in the killings in Bahir Dar and Addis Ababa and the ‘alleged ringleader of the coup’, Asamnew, who was killed in a shoot-out, was innocent of the charges that were thrown at him. Certain segments used his death as the occasion for mourning, making him a hero to the Amhara people as the spokesman of their sufferings and aspirations. His funeral processions in Lalibela attended by relatively large crowd has been a sign of that.

This state of affairs and the persistence of the conspiracy theory has irritated the Amhara region officials, prompting them to go great lengths to explain themselves. Asemahagh Aseres, a regional government spokesman, spoke in length how he himself was detained by the militia when it took over a guesthouse for government officials. Other officials spoke on record did the same, giving more or less consistent account. A few days later after the event, the Amhara Mass Media agency has released a recording of a phone conversation between Asamnew Tsgie and the head of the Amhara Mass Media Agency, in which the former was heard saying measures have been taken against the regional leaders. Even this fell on a partisan ears. Not only anonymous social media activists but journalists such as Habtamu Ayalew, the former ESAT journalist who is now raising money on GoFundMe to establish a new media house, are strongly contesting the authenticity of the recording. However, that doesn’t mean there’s any evidence for the more outlandish theories about the event.

Division and fructure

Observers say part of the reason for the persistence of such conspiracy theories is deep division and fracture that is marking Ethiopia politics. There is especially fear that the alliance between the Amhara and Oromo wings of the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) that ousted the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) would breakdown.

Belay Manaye, a journalist and an online activist, says the government should allow an independent investigation to clear things. “It’s fishy that federal government rushed to call Asaminew “ringleader of the alleged coup”,” he told Ethiopia Observer. However, some say it is not sure that would help to bury the conspiracy theory. Mohammed Girma, a scholar and the author of Understanding Religion and Social Change in Ethiopia wrote on its Twitter feed that the call for an investigation might be the right thing to do. “However, with a dramatic trust deficit in current Ethiopia, “independence” seems to be a distant notion that only exists in some fictitious realm.”

The International Crisis Group (ICG) reminded authorities of the need for “a concerted effort to counter damaging rumours”, and release evidence it has linking the Bahir Dar and Addis Ababa attacks “in order to quell speculation.”

In the fragile country in need of good will and wisdom, if common sense prevails, the politically charged and baseless rhetoric could die away. But if it persists it is clear that this will create resistance to change and compromise, making the road to national reconciliation a bumpy one.

Image: Reuters

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Suspects arrested in connection with the ‘coup’ attempt in which the army chief and a retired general were killed in Addis Ababa and three regional officials were killed in Bahir Dar ten days ago are housed in dark, damp and cold cells in a clear violation of their human rights, their lawyer Henok Aklilu said.

The inmates who are in prison in Addis Ababa including journalist Berihun Adane have been denied access to their families, lawyers, Henok said. The lawyer objected this in an application that he delivered to Lideta Subcity First Instance Court yesterday and police officers justified, saying they have been busy. The court subsequently ordered the inmates to be visited by their family members and lawyers. In consequence of the order given, the prisoners were visited by their lawyers yesterday. The lawyer said the inmates are housed in dark, damp and cold rooms and they are allowed to use the toilet only once a day.

Among the suspects are Berihun Adane, a journalist for the newly launched Asrat TV, Mastewal Arega, a former employee of the Ministry of Revenue, and Sintayehu Chekol, a member of Baladera Council, a group opposed to what it saw as the dominance of the Oromo in Addis Ababa.

Several members of Baladera Council group and the National Movement of Amhara (NAMA) have been detained in a wave of arrests by the security forces since the killings.

People read newspapers in Megenagna Square in Addis Ababa Photo Ethiopia Observer

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The recent assassinations in Addis Ababa and Amhara and the ‘attempted coup’ have sparked debate. Ethiopians are engaged in discussions on the tragic event, the political impasse in the country, and what this means for the current and future of the country. Here two personalities, one Getachew Reda, a senior official of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and Andargachew Tsige, a well-known opposition politician who spent four years on death row, deliver their assessment.

If they can’t manage it, they have to take leave.

Though I did not expect the event to unfold in this way, I can say that it was something I saw coming, because that is what you get, when you let the forces of anarchy loose on the land, when bandits who were known to have wreaked havoc were granted a hero’s welcome, and convicts who were serving time were lionized, and unwarranted forgiveness was declared with no discretion, this is pretty much what you get. I’m particularly sad because my former comrades were killed in the tumult but I’m also ashamed of myself for not having stood up to the granting of such an amnesty bereft of moral justification and fairness.

But people should challenge the government. We have to ask every day, every moment until we are given the right response. If they can’t manage it, they have to take leave, saying, ‘sorry we are not up to the task’. The life of the nation is at stake. If we let any criminal can kill with impunity, we will eventually get use to such lawlessness and grow insensitive to it. We have to demand that something be done lest people will grow numb to suffering, surliness, and wickedness. The way to do this is to oppose these things always.

A wake-up call

None shall be spared of the impending doom.

I have cautioned government authorities whenever I have got the chance, including in writing. The country is in a particularly worrying situation. It is not a matter we ought to treat lightly. Only engaging in dialogue could do. This is a country that puts up with extraordinary issues. The problem is not only political but structural. It is a structural economic problem. Even if you attempt to address the political issues, the economic problems could put the country in tatters. In a nation where 70 to 80 percent of the youth is unemployed, it is not feasible to claim to solve problems through political reform. It simply doesn’t work to say reforming politics would alleviate the nation’s ills in a situation where inflation is rising, and people suffering the acute effect of this. Of course, politics is riddled with structural constraints. If those at the helm really take this problem seriously and mean to address it in earnest and invite the opposition to contribute their share in this, this is well and good. Otherwise, none shall be spared of the impending doom. The way to perdition is wide open. What we have witnessed recently is a glimpse of the first steps to a downward spiral towards hell. Unless all the people are mobilized as one to tackle the mammoth challenge we are faced with, this is not something to be solved by the opposition alone. This is something that requires the mobilization of the entire people and all stakeholders. There simply is no possibility in the country where one group will perish and others spared. We all stand or fall together. This is a wakeup call and the need to pay attention. Not only for the government but also for the opposition and the larger public.

Interview collected by Addis Admass newspaper

Translated from Amharic into English by Ethiopia Observer

Main Image: A woman mourns upon her arrival to attend the funeral service of Chief of Staff Seare Mekonnen in Addis Ababa. (AFP)

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The official narrative on the motive and the exact nature of the assassinations of the president of the Amhara regional state and the country’s army chief of staff in an alleged local coup attempt has not convinced everyone. In order to clear the clouds of doubt and suspicion, the government must establish an independent, impartial commission.

Following the election of young Ethiopian Prime Minister in April 2018, Dr. Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia has gone through reforms of a kind that my generation has never witnessed. Just a few years ago, journalists, religious leaders, members of opposition political parties and leaders of civil societies were arrested, charged and convicted using the country’s infamous anti-terrorism proclamation, whose very objectives were diverted by the ruling party to eliminate dissidents from the political discourse. Thousands and thousands of youth (especially the Oromos and Amharas) had been detained and tortured in public and secret prisons. Others were killed summarily on the street. The torture and inhuman treatment is now part of public knowledge for the most part. The national television and other media organizations broadcasted the video interviews of those who were inhumanly treated and mercilessly tortured by the security agents. Listening to those forms of torture and seeing their mental and physical scars shocked the Ethiopians. Few individuals or companies having familial and political connections with the ruling party completely dominated the country’s economy especially the import-export business. The country blacklisted more than 4000 of its citizens and tried outspoken members of exiled opposition parties in abstenia and bogusly convicted them for terrorism crimes.  

A significant number of Ethiopians-including me-believed that Ethiopia’s minority ruling party was unwilling and incapable to take the country out of the deep political crisis. To his credit, the new Prime Minister proved us all wrong. Immediately after his appointment by the parliament, he has embarked on bold and speedy reforms on all major sectors, the economy, military, intelligence and security, judiciary, electoral board, media and so on. The Prime Minister toured various parts of the country, preaching love, forgiveness, and togetherness in an attempt to counter the works of his predecessors who stoked division among the public. Under his Attorney General office, Abiy established the legal advisory committee comprising the country’s top-notch lawyers and professors of law to review draconian laws such anti-terrorism, civil societies, media and election board proclamations used by his predecessors to imprison dissidents and stay in power. Abiy took the initiative to end the “no-war, no-peace” situation between Ethiopia and its neighbouring Eritrea, after 20 years of hostility. The Prime Minister bolstered the peace initiative in South Sudan and in Sudan. Based on his political, economic and diplomatic reforms both inside his country and in the troubled region of East Africa, Ethiopians and Africans called the Noble Prize Committee to award him the prestigious award. The Prime Minister was able to receive the UNESCO Peace Prize Award and was selected as one of the 100 influential people of 2019 by Time Magazine.

A period of uncertainty and upheaval

The Prime Minister’s appointment and his speedy liberalization of the political space exposed Ethiopia’s multi-national and deep divisions, disputes, displacements, and even clashes between ethnic groups. Ethnic conflicts and clashes in Burayu, and Gedeo and other places spiraled into a humanitarian crisis. Nearly three million people were internally displaced which is the highest number of internally displaced of any country the world in 2018.  The Prime Minister has been accused of being severe with the Amhara and Tigrai ethnic groups and has been very flexible and compromising when it comes to the Oromos, where he is coming from. Despite vehemently denying the allegation, he has been accused of giving excessive advantage to Oromos in key government posts. The Prime Minister’s reluctance to the respect of the rule of law especially at the beginning of his reign dismayed many. He, for example, glossed over the concerns about the numerous vigilante groups causing political instability in the regions. To date, the Prime Minister has not had policy responses to his National Security Advisor’s assessment of Ethiopia’s existential threat being “ethnic-based politics.” The Prime Minister continues to vigorously defend the federal constitution which divides Ethiopia into ethnic-based regions.

The June 22, 2019 Assassinations

On June 22, 2019, something unprecedented happened in the Amhara region of Ethiopia, the second populous and politically influential region. It was alleged that Brigadier General Asaminew Tsige, the region’s head of the peace and security bureau, and his loyal soldiers killed Dr. Ambachew Mekonnen, the region’s president, along with his advisor and the regional attorney general while in the capital city, Chief of Staff General Seare was killed by his own guard along with another retired general. Niggussu Tilahun, the spokesperson of the Prime Minister, labeled the incident a coup d’etat a couple of hours later without any further investigations. On June 24, 2019, security forces on the outskirts of Bahir Dar, the regional capital, killed Asamnew Tsige, the alleged perpetrator. Following these incidents, more than 250 people were arrested on the suspicion that they have in one way or another participated in the alleged coup d’etat.

What has been on the news following these incidents alarmed many Ethiopians. Government officials both at the regional and federal level kept changing the facts of the matter about the incident, a situation immensely aggravated by extravagant and bogus claims on the social media. Conspiracy theories and cries for justice follow. Opponents of the Prime Minister from his own political party might have contributed to the spread of misinformation and disinformation about the incident. The government’s attempt to block internet backfired on itself. Many remain suspicious about the government’s haste and efforts to put all the blame on the shoulder of one person- the frustrated regional security chief.

During funeral ceremonies both in Amhara and Tigray regions, open criticisms and condemnation against the federal government were heard. In a rally in Bahir Dar, some were even heard saying that “It was the Prime Minister who orchestrated the killings in an attempt to control the Amhara region and the Amhara ethnic group.”

To date, the single source of information about the incident is the government. While the government is using state media organizations to issue favorable press releases, reports are coming out of the Amhara region that local opposition-inspired journalists are either being harassed or prohibited from reporting from the ground. The absence of well-authenticated facts of the assassinations gave birth to conspiracy theories, confusions, suspicions, and baseless conclusions. If what has been reported stands now, the Prime Minister will lose the support of the majority of the Amhara people. There is a growing belief that the Prime Minister is using the incident to attack members of the National Movement of the Amhara (NaMA) political party, a widely supported opposition party established a year ago in the Amhara region.

Does the federal government use this opportunity to arrest and imprison its dissidents?

To maintain the support of the Amhara people, to make the record clean and straight and even to clear up the taints around his name, Abiy must establish an independent and impartial commission whose very objective is to go to the bottom of the facts to let the public know what exactly happened on June 22, 2019. True, the findings of the independent commission may not be unanimously accepted. But, facts are facts and facts change the position of responsible citizens. One way of making the commission impartial will be to recruit religious leaders, elders, influential persons, dignitaries, trial lawyers and other respected individuals of the country as members of the commission. The commission, among other things, may be given the mandate to work on the following issues: Who did what on June 22, 2019? Was it a coup d’etat or was it a dispute between regional leaders? Was it an isolated incident or was there a coordinated attack on the federal system? Did opposition political parties in one way or another participate in the assassinations? If so, in what ways? What exactly caused the incident? What security breaches were there to embolden the perpetrators to attack the highest leaders of the region and military chiefs? Was there any role played by both the regional and federal government leading to the problem? Following the incident, did the federal government use proportional measures to maintain peace and security in the country? Does the federal government use this opportunity to arrest and imprison its dissidents? In other words, is Ethiopia “back to square one” of using its military to suppress dissent? What do Ethiopia and the international community learn from this to move forward with the reforms initiated by the Prime Minister?

I am one of those Ethiopians who still feel that we should do everything we can to help Prime Minister Abiy succeed both in Ethiopia and globally. Recommending the establishment of an independent commission to investigate this issue is part of that strong desire to help him maintain the support of the second populous region in the country.

Main Image: Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen during the funeral ceremony in Amhara’s regional capital of Bahir Dar. BAZ RATNER / REUTERS

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O bird of paradise,

My good fortune, my sustenance,

Blessed among bird species –

Sing to me, I’m downcast;

I am worn-out by the gripe;

My ears are longing for lovely tune,

My soul, my mind, my spirit too;

From song-filled chest, a refrain,

And make my wishes come true.

Born to chirp, chant and chatter,

You craft and dish out melody

For the pleasure of humanity;

O guileless bird,

Like the very sun, you light up each;

Your wine you lavish, on the just, the fiendish;

You sing so charitably, boulders softened,

The rains are gone, the sky has cleared,

The scorched earth once again green,

Heart of barbarians now less mean,

The frenzied, serene;

Sing to me, my little bard,

Sweeten my life’s bitter years,

Ring out your voice from mesa to mesa

And dry my tears.

TRANSLATOR’S NOTE: This ode was originally composed in 23 stanzas and titled, Woffa-Yared (ወፈ ያሬድ). First three stanzas are sampled here. Yared (AD 505 – 571) is the saint credited with developing Ethiopian sacred music and notation. The bird in question is named after Saint Yared for his mellifluous sound and for supposedly teaching his trade to the saint. Probably a type of heron (see Leviticus 11:19), the bird was thought to have perished in the course of his singing because he neglected to feed himself.

POET: FIKRE TOLOSSA | TRANSLATOR: MITIKU ADISU

© Blue Nile Poems, 2018, p.113

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Despite a stumble along the way, the reform that we have greeted with optimism and hope has been going for a year and a half. Today, the hope and optimism seem to have sadly evaporated. The initial euphoria has been replaced by a sense of despair, following a series of violent incidents. Our hope is ebbing away due to the administration’s’ foot-dragging. Those who have not been so enthusiastic about the change from the start or who have not been hopeful are waxing lyrical about vindication, chanting gleefully, “We get our wish.” Others who embraced the reform with genuine goodwill, vowing to support the process in the best possible way are left within a state ranging from betrayal to despair. Still others like me who have not yet lost hope in the reform process continue to push and egg the government on to change course in a timely manner, hoping against hope that the dawn will come.

That the country is in a dire state requires no analysis. Maybe our level of understanding about the looming threat could vary but the fact has attained the status of conventional wisdom. The various statements issued by the federal and regional governments recently are proof. To understand how the team that leads the reform and the administration is in a muddled state, it will suffice to listen to the July 1 speech of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in parliament. Though there could reasons that push the Prime Minister into a whirlpool of emotions, his speech was full of contradictions, devoid of any direction, filled with rage and threats, uncertainty and powerlessness and demonstrated fundamental flaw of ideas. For instance, the PM’s remark saying “one who does not accept the constitution could not raise the issue of freedom of expression,” has implications with regards to the violations of rights. Either the PM doesn’t accept his legal advisor’s advice or he uttered those words without any reflection. Or else, he is considering to resorting to silence, punish and suppress people he disagrees with.

The call for realistic, unpartisan criticism

As I believe this reform is confronted with many hurdles and challenges, I don’t sympathise with those who are continuously criticising and condemning everything about the administration. Giving praise as well as pertinent criticism seem to be lacking among many critics, a trait missing from our political culture. For those who are playing up the failures of the administration and magnifying flaws, the various violence incidents that occurred in different parts of the country has given them further ammunition. Harsher critics tend to see the glass entirely empty, accentuating the negative rather than the positive, something that impedes them from being objective on the administration. This is the danger of cynicism. On the contrary, passionate admirers of Abiy turn blind eye to the failings of the administration and praise him to the sky, focusing on a few achievements. Such excessive partisanship results in discounting failures that pose an existential threat to the country, yet trumpeting insignificant events as a success story.

Animosities across this fault lines between these two extreme positions are intensifying, as increasingly manifested in the ill-informed, extravagant social media exchanges. The country’s elites are taking the most bellicose and extremist positions, pushing the country towards chaos. In addition to this, the mix of hate speech and false narrative are adding fuel to the flame.

The Abiy administration is plagued by a series of domestic and external problems and is under enormous pressure from various sides. How the administration would come out of the deadlock would depend largely on the leaderships’ qualities, strength, and problem-solving process.

There are main glaring problems, a deep social, political and economic crisis. Profound ethnic splits, deep poverty, chronic unemployment, identity and border questions, widespread corruption, decaying government infrastructure, ethnic favouritism, nepotism, patronage, the discourse of marginalization and exclusion, constitutional amendment, hyperinflation and shortages of hard currency, institutional capacity, and lack of national consensus, among others.

The direction the administration will take in the months to come would determine the response for the questions. If the administration decides to pursue “get-tough” measures and flex muscles to manage those problems, that would obviously be an invitation to trouble. If that is the administration is headed, it is unlikely to survive much longer, not even the span of the decades of iron-fisted rule led by the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF).

The period of the TPLF hegemony and the time of change now brought about by Oromo Democratic Party (ODP) and by its allies are different in so many respects. When TPLF took the rein of power there were indeed ethnic parties, but extremism and heightened ethnic consciousnesses didn’t take root in minds of people yet. So, the one and great challenge for TPLF was to organise Ethiopian people into many factions and sow seeds of discord among them. TPLF has done everything in its power to achieve its objective from forming regions along linguistic and ethnic lines to creating systems of repression it called one for five. The seed has already grown into a tree and the fruits are dropping to the ground.

Conclusion

The Abiy administration should take seriously the challenges the country is facing and come up with urgent solutions.

-Ensuring the rule of law and sustainable peace without sacrificing the basic features of freedom of expression. Liberating journalists, party members and supporters that had been arbitrarily arrested following the recent event.

-Organizing reconciliation and peace forums to determine the nation’s future constitutional configuration with the view to easing and eradicating ethnic and regional tensions and preparing a memorandum of understanding between stakeholders and political parties to diminish the deepening anxiety and anger.  

-Bringing groups, individuals from both ends of the political spectrum together and have a discussion to come up with common solutions

Unless we take serious precaution regarding the way we deal with the nation as an entity, the country is on the verge of collapse. The Prime Minister’s remark saying “Ethiopia’s sovereignty is not up for discussion. We will fight with a Kalashnikov,” has been distressingly familiar to that of the threat made by the former dictator Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam. The Colonel’s threat did not stop Eritrea from seceding.

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