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A Farewell to Meles Zenawi
For over two hundred seventy five weeks, without missing a single week, I have written long expository commentaries on the deeds and misdeeds of the man who has been at the helm of power in Ethiopia for over two decades. Meles Zenawi has now passed on. The cause of his death remains a closely guarded state secret.
There is little I can say about what Meles has done or not done in death that I have not said in life. But his death saddens me, because as John Donne said, “Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind. Death comes equally to us all, and makes us all equal when it comes.” As a committed human rights advocate, even the death of a tyrant diminishes me because I am involved in the cause of humanity– justice, fairness, equality, dignity, benevolence, compassion, forgiveness, honesty, integrity and magnanimity.
I bid Meles farewell not in words of lamentation or grievance but in words that record lost opportunities yet express hope, optimism and confidence in the future of Ethiopia.
Meles Zenawi was a man who had an appointment with destiny. Fate had chosen him to play a historic role in Ethiopia and beyond. He was one of the leaders of a rebel group that fought and defeated a brutal military dictatorship that had been in power for 17 years. In victory, Meles promised democracy, respect for democratic liberties and development. But as the years wore on, Meles became increasingly repressive, intolerant of criticism and in the end became as tyrannical as the tyrant he had replaced. In his last years, he created a police state reinforced by a massive security network of spies and surveillance technology. He criminalized press freedom and civil society institutions. He crushed dissent and all opposition. He spread fear and loathing that penetrated the remotest parts of the countryside. For over 21 years, Meles clutched the scepter of power in his hands and cast away the sword of justice he held when he marched into the capital from the bush in 1991. Meles was feared, disliked and demonized by his adversaries. He was loved, admired, idealized and idolized by his supporters. In the end, Meles died a man who had absolute power which had corrupted him absolutely. In his relentless pursuit of absolute power, Meles missed his appointment with destiny to become a peerless and exemplary Ethiopian leader.
But who was the Meles Zenawi we saw morphing from a promising democrat into a flagitious dictator over the past 21 years? Who was the man we accuse of human rights violations and crimes against humanity? Who was the man we blame for the stillbirth of democracy in Ethiopia and the creation of “an African police state” as CNN recently characterized it? Is he alone responsible for the suffering and woe that have befallen that poor nation? Perhaps some may be surprised to hear one of Meles’ severest critics in life raising such questions in his death. But the truth must be told.
We created and nurtured Meles over the past 21 years. We were his aiders and abettors. We share responsibility in his deeds and misdeeds. “We” are the great nations who lionized and gave billions of dollars to Meles every year even as we meticulously documented his massive record of human rights violations year after year. “We” are the members of the political party that controls 99.6 percent of the seats in parliament who rubber-stamped his repressive laws that criminalized journalists and civil society organizations and made “terrorists” out of our best and brightest youth. “We” are the judges who made a travesty of justice by subverting the halls of justice into kangaroo courts. “We” are the soldiers, police and security operatives who used our guns on innocent civilians. “We” are the civil servants who stood at Meles’ beck and call and did his bidding unquestioningly. “We” are the journalists for state media who covered up and justified his violations of human rights. “We” are the businessmen and women who profited from official corruption to line our pockets. “We” are the young men and women who signed up for party membership to access opportunities in a system we knew to be corrupt. “We” are Ethiopia’s intellectuals who chose not to stand up to Meles or stand up for principle. “We” are the opposition party leaders who bickered, quarreled and quibbled when millions looked up to us to lead us on the shining path to democracy. “We” are the Ethiopian Diaspora who kept silent, turned a deaf ear, muted lips and blind eyes as ordinary Ethiopians were subjected to extrajudicial killings, dissidents and critics jailed and political prisoners tortured and abused. “We” are the individuals who could have said or done something when Meles did wrong but chose to remain silent. The truth must be told. None of us can wash off our hands the sins of silence, complicity and indifference over the past twenty-one years. So “We” all should be mindful that when we point an index finger at Meles, three fingers are pointing at ourselves.
Meles was an exceedingly ambitious man who understood power, but only the dark side of power. He could not come to terms with the truth that real power comes from the consent of the people and must be exercised in accordance with the principle of the rule of law. He held the power of life and death, but used it more for the latter. He was the policeman, judge, jury and executioner. He was the law, and his will was the law of the land. Meles was blinded to the fact that with great power comes great responsibility. He scorned the idea that those who hold power must temper it with compassion, justice and tolerance. But having absolute power made Meles feel absolutely invincible, indestructible, indomitable and unconquerable. He missed his appointment with destiny.
Meles could have been a peerless and exemplary leader in Ethiopia and in Africa. Many of the world’s dictators in history were great leaders. Their “greatness” came from their brutal subjugation of their people. But exemplary leaders achieve greatness because they are loved, revered and cherished by their people. Their greatness comes from their openness of heart, mind and soul. Nelson Mandela is a peerless and exemplary leader embraced by the entire world even though he was in office for four years and spent much of his adult life languishing in Apartheid prisons. Today he is seen as an icon of humanity. What makes Mandela an exemplary leader is not his charisma, oratory, organizing or administrative skills. Mandela was concerned about people, not power. Mandela’s first and foremost concern was dignity, the dignity of all South Africans and the dignity of all humanity. Mandela became a peerless leader because he took a single seed of love from his heart and planted in the arid soil of racial hate and watered it with goodwill, patience and tolerance. When the world wagered on a bloodbath in South Africa, in six years Mandela brought black and white South Africans together and baptized them in the holy water of truth and reconciliation. Today South Africa is a shining example of a multiracial society with its own imperfections.
Meles had an appointment with destiny to walk in Mandela’s shoes and follow in his footsteps. He could have forged a strong and united Ethiopian nation. He had the chance to build bridges that connected people across ethnic lines, roads that linked hearts and minds. But he chose the path of ethnic division and fragmentation. He chose to build edifices to decorate the cities, roads that led to nowhere and dams that damned the people and gave away the land to foreigners for pennies in the name of development and investment. Meles missed his appointment with destiny to forge a united Ethiopian nation.
Meles had an appointment with destiny to become not only a peerless and exemplary leader bust also a compassionate one. He was a man with an iron will, which was also his undoing. He was quick to anger and intemperate in his disposition. He was unkind to those over whom he had total control. When he jailed Birtukan Midekssa in December 2008, he said, “there will never be an agreement with anybody to release Birtukan. Ever. Full stop. That’s a dead issue.” Birtukan had done nothing wrong. When he denied an incubator for the premature baby of internationally-acclaimed husband and wife journalists, Serkalem Fasil and Eskinder Nega, born in prison, he showed himself lacking in fundamental human decency. When he told American diplomats that “we will crush the opposition with all our might”, he revealed himself to be a ruthless man. Whenever it was in his power to show mercy, he chose vengeance. Like Mandela, by working with his adversaries, Meles could have made them his partners and eventually his friends. He missed his appointment with destiny.
Meles had an appointment with destiny to uplift the people of Ethiopia not only materially but also in their sense of self-dignity, personal autonomy and security. Meles believed “there is no direct relationship between economic growth and democracy historically or theoretically.” But there can be no sustainable development where people are denied basic rights and are forced to resort to violence, conflict and war. The essence of humanity is dignity. It is not all about filling the belly. It is true that a hungry man is an angry man, but a hungry man hungers not only for bread but also for freedom and self-dignity. The poorest of the poor and the richest of the rich crave dignity about all else, even food. Over a quarter of a century ago, a Western reporter covering the famine in Ethiopia was stunned to find out that the famine victims at a relief center did not fight over the little bit of food that was being distributed among them. He was deeply touched by the fact that the famine victims would rather die in quiet dignity than fight their fellow victims to get a piece of bread. But dignity comes in many forms: the freedom to speak, to think, to worship, to assemble, to petition for grievances, and most importantly, freedom from fear of one’s government. Meles believed man can live by bread alone and single-mindedly championed and worshipped brick and mortar projects. He missed his appointment with destiny.
Meles was not a forgiving or a tolerant man. He was inclined to pardon once in a while when it was convenient, but not to forgive. He held the pardon he gave out as the Sword of Damocles over the heads of his pardonees. He always let them know that he could revoke his pardon and throw them back in jail at will. He preferred confrontation to negotiation, imposition of his will to compromise. He had a need to win all the time and played zero sum games. Meles missed his appointment with destiny.
Meles was a man who never admitted making mistakes. It did not seem to occur to him that he could admit mistakes and ask forgiveness for deeds done in error or take actions to correct mistakes. He could never bring himself to utter the phrases “I made a mistake” or “I am sorry.” When asked about the deaths of some 200 protesters and wounding of nearly 800 in the aftermath of the 2005 elections, his response was numbingly bureaucratic, “I regret the deaths but these were not normal demonstrations. You don’t see hand grenades thrown at normal demonstrations.” As the evidence presented by Meles’ own Inquiry Commission showed, none of the demonstrators were armed let alone carry grenades. Meles never explained and never said he was sorry for those deaths. I was transformed from an indifferent armchair academic into a resolute human rights advocate because of those killings.
Following the killings of hundreds of people in Gambella, Meles issued a whitewash report. He denied the occurrence of any human rights violations in the Ogaden, Afar and Oromia regions. He often showed conduct unbecoming of a statesman whenever others pointed out his mistakes. When his opponents challenged his policies, he called them “dirty”, “mud dwellers”, “pompous egotists” and good-for-nothing “chaff” and “husk.” He humiliated and demeaned parliamentarians who challenged him with probing questions or disagreed with him. He characterized the work of the European Union election observers in the 2010 election as “garbage”. He described the Voice of America as the voice of genocide similar to one of the infamous Rwandan radio stations in the mid-1990s. He never apologized to those he had wronged.
Meles insisted on being right all the time. He did not seem to believe that he can learn from his mistakes and failures. Meles once acknowledged he may have made a mistake. Responding to a journalist’s question about Diaspora Ethiopians protesting his overseas visits, Meles said, “We may be at fault in some way. I am sorry. That maybe we didn’t communicate well enough to those Ethiopians living abroad what is happening, what we are doing here.” He missed his appointment with destiny by failing to effectively communicate with Diaspora Ethiopians.
Meles could have been an exemplary leader if he had upheld the rule of law. He often talked about “our Constitution” and the rule of law but rarely followed either. He was the object of relentless criticism by all international human rights organizations for disregarding Ethiopia’s Constitution and international human rights treaties and conventions. Every year, the U.S. State Department Human Rights Report documented massive human rights violations as did so many other international human rights organizations. But he was dismissive of such reports. For the Meles regime, human rights organizations were “highly frustrated and self-appointed kingmaker institutions in the U.S.” bent on “tarnishing the image of the country.” He missed his appointment with destiny.
Meles was a man with a mission. He confused mission with vision. He spoke of an “Ethiopian Renaissance” and some say he “wanted to restore Ethiopia to its former glory”. But many doubted his motives and even his true allegiance to the country. In his speech on the Ethiopian millennium in 2007, he lamented the fact that “at the dawn of the new millennium, ours is one of the poorest countries in the world.” But he was reassuring: “A thousand years from now, when Ethiopians gather to welcome the fourth millennium, they shall say the eve of the third millennium was the beginning of the end of the dark ages in Ethiopia.” Sadly, many before him have been driven by the same impulse to resurrect ancient glory. They failed in Berlin and Rome over one-half century ago and more recently in Tripoli and Bagdad. Though they built roads, dams and magnificent edifices and waged war, they were all consigned to the dustbin of history.
Our Appointment With Destiny
We the living now have a new appointment with destiny. But before we keep our appointment, we must face the truth and come to terms with Meles’ legacy. The truth is that the faults and vices we ascribe to Meles are not his alone. We have been known to hunger and lust for power, to put our partisan interests above the common good, to manifest dictatorial impulses even when we are out of power, trade principle for convenience and self-interest, behave with intolerance, become condemnatory instead of conciliatory, deny making mistakes and above all find every excuse not to say, “I am sorry” when we make mistakes. We cannot right Meles’ wrongs until we acknowledge our own.
Condemning the memory of Meles as we move forward will serve no purpose. It will only continue the tradition of grievance and victimhood and culture of antagonism. Meles’ legacy should not be that he continues to rule from grave. We must learn the right lessons from his 21-year rule and move forward to heal the open wounds of fear, loathing and antagonism. There is no need to perpetuate historic hatreds. We must strive for love, wisdom and compassion towards one another. Now that Meles has passed, we can all put Mandela’s shoes, put our noses to the grind stone and together build an Ethiopia on a solid foundation of the rule of law, respect for human rights and democracy. The question we now face is clear: Will we also miss our appointment with destiny?
Beginning earlier this year, I have been writing about “Ethiopia’s inevitable transition from dictatorship to democracy”. I have outlined various scenarios on what could happen during the transition. Today the dictatorship of one man in Ethiopia is over, but dictatorship itself is alive and well. To complete the transition to democracy and make our appointment with destiny, we must take resolute steps to begin a national dialogue for reconciliation. As we prepare for this dialogue, we must make the release of all political prisoners and repeal of the oppressive “anti-terrorism and civic society” laws job number one.
On the Road to Good Governance and Democracy
I have relentlessly chronicled the deeds and misdeeds of Meles Zenawi for some years now. I had nothing personal against the man. I never knew him. But I have followed and studied his politics, actions and speeches. I have disagreed with him on practically everything because I have been tunnel-visioned on human rights. My singular cause is human rights in Ethiopia. I got involved in Ethiopian human rights following the massacre of unarmed protesters in the aftermath of the 2005 elections. I have looked at Meles’ deeds and misdeeds through the prism of human rights. I am an ardent human rights advocate and if that be a fault, I proudly embrace it.
I believe Meles had an appointment with destiny to live and die as a hero and make the whole country his tomb. His epitaph could have recorded great deeds inscribed not on granite but enshrined in the hearts of his countrymen and women. As a human rights advocate, I am pained to think of Meles’ legacy in the dark vision of the victims of the 2005 massacres, the subhuman prisons that warehouse the hundreds of thousands of political prisoners, the courts which became political tools, the subversion of the rule of law and so on.
I have sought for some signs that Meles at least believed in human rights in the abstract. I shall give him the benefit of doubt that he did. In an interview with Al Jazeera in 2007, Meles said, “I’d hope that my legacy would be one of sustained and accelerated development that would pull Ethiopia out of the massive deep poverty that it was mired in, full and total stabilization of the country, radical improvements in terms of good governance and democracy. I’d hope by the time I retire, we’d have made significant strides in all of those in the future.” By the time of his death in 2012, the “radical improvements in terms of good governance and democracy” had seen a radical regression into tyranny and despotism. The “future” Meles spoke of is now. We should all work collectively to implement his aspirations for “radical improvements in terms of good governance and democracy” now. This is Meles’ legacy his surviving officials should acknowledge openly and work with others to implement as the ultimate tribute to Meles’ leadership. The “radical improvement in good governance and democracy” begins with the release of all political prisoners, repeal of antiterrorism and civil society and other oppressive laws and declaration of allegiance to the rule of law. As the Ethiopian new year is just around the corner, we can all begin afresh on the road to “radical improvements in good governance and democracy”.
I wish I would have been able to deliver a eulogy that celebrated Meles’ two-decade old tenure in power; to speak of a man who was a hero in life and in death; a man for whom men, women and children flooded the streets of their own free will to express heart felt sorrow and shed tears. I wish I could have spoken of a man who made his appointment with destiny and became a peerless and exemplary leader. The greatest homage I can pay Meles in death as one of his severest critics in life is to uphold and defend his vision of “radical improvements in terms of good governance and democracy” in Ethiopia.
Meles once told a journalist that “if Ethiopians thought he [was a dictator] I would not sleep at night. But I don’t believe they do.” But I am afraid the very last words Meles heard before he fell “asleep” were the words of a young Ethiopian journalist. In response to a question on whether he ever imagined he would be in power for so long, Meles was reflective: “That was clearly not what I expected. It’s happened. I don’t regret it but I just hope that, at the end of it all, it will have been worth it.” I sincerely hope it was all worth it for him.
Let others speak of Meles as a “visionary” leader, “an African leader of major historical significance” and write his glorious hagiography. I shall bid him farewell by paraphrasing Shakespeare in Julius Caesar.
Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Meles, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
And so,
Friends, Ethiopians, countrymen and women, lend me your ears;
It is time to bury Meles, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Meles.
I do not care who you are. I do not care where you came from. You can be from She or Agew speacking family. You can be from Kimant or Shinasha. You can also be raised, in Tigre or Afar or Amhara or Oromo family. If you lived just one day in this family. You are the first who can learn how Ethiopians have a peaceful family who respect one an other. You can tell loudly how these people respect even strangers who does not now the locality.
Where did these evilness came from? Why are they following the same logic of magnifying the difference instead of looking for unity? Is it just because they want power or do they have any other goal to achieve? Is it not enought the great country called Ethiopian became a land locked country over night? Is it not enought the people starved for more than half a century starting from the time of the emperor? Do these people who made or used as an agent to make Ethiopia the poorest of all before, now and forever?
What is going on? To whoms should I talk to? I am confused. Do I have to talk to the westerns or the already disappeared Eastern block? Or to those believed to be bad the lender banker or american people? One couriers the future of the coming generation, China? Who is gonna listening to me as a single voice of an Ethiopian? How come a small region separated from the main land took all the sea breathings for ever? Where do I go and cry? Where do I go and find a wizard who can tell what happened to the people of the world who has that wise judgement? Sometimes I am asking myself do I have to be a liar or a lier, a killeror a savior,! A person who lived the world in the world or the other way round?
Jimmy Carter and H.Cohn in 1991 chose evil who was led by a person who burnt a school. They like a killers group who cook his food with school chair and tables. They like a group who destroy puplic infrastructures to tranquilizer peoples daily activity instead of listening to the unlicensed majority. This does not mean that power in question is fully perfect. But at leat had the idea of undivided and united great Ethiopia who streaches it’s hands to God, should live with happiness. Do these two people have to these poor people? I do not know, but do they feel sorrow?????
Meles is god for good. I just want to ask Jimmy carter and Herman Chone where do you want us to go now? Which part of Ethiopia are you planning to give to or create to be a new nation to this crowded continent? I believe creating a new country doesnot solve the problem of Africa. I believe ethnic based polictics does nothel to make a best friend but the worst enemy. Think of this, do you know any single penny coming out of American tax payer goes to China to buy a fake commodity or to kille the people of Africa. I suggest wasterns to spend their money wisely or to keep quit as the world police could not do nothing so far.
It is that time that the people of Africa n general and Ethiopians in particular start believing in their own power. Let’s believe in ourselves; once and forever we the people of the great Ethiopia!!!!
Please let us not dwell over the farewell –just say g* *o H*ll!!!
The reason what we have is ;80,000 youth soldiers+200 demonstrates…No…No…Not only those.;just because of ETHIOPIA and ETHIOPIAN PEOPLE.
Any way death means the end of life. Death is something that can happen all of a sudden, or it may be due to some long time suffering. Death can occur any time as a result of an accident too. This is what makes it all the more undesirable. Death happens to everyone who is alive, at different points of time.
We all make mistakes, but only the extremely self-esteemed among us can admit them. People around you know when you make a mistake, so do not kid yourself that you can constantly cover it up. So do yourself a favor by admitting your mistakes honestly, then getting on, and fixing the problem.Meles Zenawi missed a lot of chances to correct his mistakes,instead he killed a lot of people.History will tell us the truth soon,until that you can read my poetry.
ከአባቶቻችን ሰምና ወርቅ :-መዲና እና የኔ ተራ ሥነ-ግጥም::
ለአባ ገ/መድህን:-
አኹን፡ምን፡ይጠቅማል፡/፡ሱሰኛ፡መኾን፧
ብዙ፡ቤት፡ፈረሰ፡/፡ትናንት፡በዚያ፡ቡን።
እና:-
ለአቶ መለስ ዜናዊ:-
ለወልድ፡አብነት፡አለው፤
ገድሎ፡ማዳኑን፡አየነው።
ከእኔው ለአዘጥዛጮች እና ሆዳሞች ይሁንልኝ::
xxxxxxxxx እንጨት በሕዝብ ቁስል ዛሬ ለሚሰዱ::xxxxxxxx
ወዮላቸው ነገ
በዕምባ እየቀለዱ:-
እንጨት በሕዝብ ቁስል
ዛሬ ለሚሰዱ::
በወቸገል ቅሥፈት
ሕዝብ እያስጨነቁ:-
ሲገድለን ለነበር
በሞት መነጠቁ:-
“አሳዘነን በሉ””አልቅሱ!” እያሉ
በገንዘብ ግዴታ ሕዝብ እየደለሉ:-
ጠላት እንድንፈራ
በወዳጅ ጠላልፈው:-
ጊዜን ተጠልለው
ከግፍ በላይ አልፈው:-
አይናችን እያየ
ብረት የታጠቁ:-
በካድሬ ደህንነት
ሕዝብ እያስጨነቁ:-
ጀግና ነን የሚሉ
በጎሳ ያበጡ:-
ለቅሶ የሚያበዙ
መሳሪያ ግን ሲያጡ:-
እናም ወዮላቸው
በዕምባ ለቀለዱ:-
እንጨት በሕዝብ ቁስል
ዛሬ ለሚሰዱ::
You are simply a talker without deeds. You have never contributed an iota to the development or greatness of Ethiopia in your life. But Meles Zenawi sacrificed for us and did it all as testimonies upon testimonies of his peer groups, Ethiopian citizens and foreign dignitaries confirm succinctly. You are a mercenery who work for our sworn enemies and you betrayed our country for your belly and selfish gratification. You will never get a chance to be on a throne where Meles sat. You are not eligible to untie his shoes band. You covet power and utopian system while you are in some nomansland. We Ethiopians are very smart people. We know how to evaluate and assess the performance of our leaders. As a result, we concluded that Meles is an icon and a visionary with skills of implemnting his mission to uplift our country from poverty and backwardness. It is not Meles that hindered you from engaging in the development of our country, but your criminal acts. You know very well that you breached our constitution when you associate with those who fight against their mother country. If not, you would have exercised your God given rights within the limits of the accountability of our constitution. We don’t need utopian democracy in Ethiopia because you cannot find it any where on earth.
As America is fighting against global terrorism, we are are also engaged in similar wars internally and externally. Our enemies include poverty, backwardness, ill-guided opposition who want to halt development through fighting and proxy wars. Therefore, our government is duty bound to put in place certain measures to apprehend criminals and punish them in the same way American Home Land Security Act was enacted to safeguard their nation’s interest. What PM Meles and our government did was the same thing. He did not allow you to attack AU Building, commit terrorism, or destroy our projects in the Northern and Eastern part of Ethiopia, or permit you to enjoy violence to depose our democratically elected government which won elections by a landslide. However, we know your mission very well. Ethiopians will never go back to your dark options of upheaval to fulfill your ill-fated dream. We gave you a chance in 2005 and you disrespected the electorate and continued in the path of violence. Ethiopia is not new for conflicts, wars and bloodshed. Now we are fed up of it and we said enough is enough. Thus, we move forward with the party which guides us with the vision of our beloved and honorable Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. He is greater than any leader in the history of Ethiopia because of his monumental achievements and vision which will guide us for centuries to come. You will either die with your wishful thinking of toppling our elected government or come to your senses and apologize the government and the people of Ethiopia and start reconcillation to take part in the development of Ethiopia. I advise you to choos the latter if you are devoted for the interest of Ethiopians and our country. Please don’t commit treason, or don’t betray us associating with our enemies who do not want our rennaisance and growth.
Long Live our hero and visionary Leader Meles Zenawi!
Long Live Ethiopia! May God bless all of us!
Mr. Abebe Gelaw, we are fade up of this picture and name. He is dead. Don’t show us any more. Rather than this let me give you an assignment. I am not famous like you and I can not do it but you can do it. You need to call all Ethiopians for celebration on the day of this man’ s funeral. All Ethiopians need to celebrate!!!!
Meles Zenawi, the GREATEST leader in WORLD history.
Power starved Ethiopians in the diaspora, hateful Eritreans (Shabiyas), Somalians (Al Shababs) and others who are jealous of our progress are infecting social media with their lies and misinformation about the achievements of our leader Meles Zenawi who was the greatest leader in world history.
Action speaks louder than words. Instead of talking, here are some major achievements of the honorable PM Meles Zenawi.
- He freed Ethiopian people who were living in subhuman condition under the previous derg regime and gave us new lives never seen in African or world history. Ethiopians were killed in vain in the previous regime. In the wise governorship of honorable Meles Zenawi, human lives are valued dearly and not a single Ethiopian made to suffer that fate.
- World record double and triple digit economic growth which enabled us to live in an immensely prosperous country, made Ethiopia the number one economy in Africa and among the top 10 wealthy economies in the world.
- Individual Ethiopians have begun to enjoy economic success never witnessed in world history. From being an earner of less than $1 per day, currently above 98% of Ethiopians are now earning an average of $120 per day, eating balanced and delicious foods, living in villas, driving fancy cars. This figure includes the rural farming community which is all now using modern tractors to farm and owning modern transport vehicles to transport their goods to the market.
- An economic equality unparalleled by world largest economies like the USA. Even USA has a very large percentage of disenfranchised Negro community still living in the ghettos.
- Freedom of opposition parties and demonstrations. There are currently more than 125 political parties (75% opposition) operating freely. The people are absolutely free to hold demonstrations in support or against the government and its policies.
- Freedom of expression in unprecedented level. There are currently more than 950 radio stations, 580 television channels, 1560 daily and weekly newspapers and magazines; all owned by investors without any interference and censorship by our government.
It will take a complete book to list the achievements of the honorable PM Meles Zenawi. In a nutshell, PM Meles Zenawi will go down in history as a leader who was above and beyond Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela and Mahtma Gandhi.
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Incredible review and way forward by Prof Al Mariam. Let us take lesson from the past and go ahead.
Everyone of us knows how Ethiopia had seen black and white eras for years and years. Those who comment on this website are poor-minded to write good messages to thier own people. The one who work can do mistakes, but those who spent their time in dreaming bad things to thier own people are seen their fruit where they say about, the internet. Nothing can hinder Ethiopia to be a rich country from its own natural and human resources, and not from those who inflict rubish ideas. Of course, by working and solving problems together, not insulting, insulting and insulting those who are working in their country. I know people here who can’t govern their own son but blame those who lead 80 milion people. Notwithstanding, someone is not agree on their political position in governing the country, he might have ignored that they have spelt their blood for years, and none has endowed them that power. He has put the benchmark…let’s see now. His suddenly death is sorrowful to people who know and love Ethiopia. May God rest his soul in peace. I wish the coming prosperouse Ethiopia by its people for its people and to be a model for Africa.
The Ethiopian people have made their choice abundantly clear when they had a littel opportunity in the 2005 elections and when they thought it would matter. Just to remind those who might have forgotten, the terrorist Meles/TPLF/EPRDF lost 100%, I repeat 100%, in the capital Addis Ababa at both federal and local levels. Terrorist Meles himself admitted this in public. Here is what terrorist Meles said in Amharic: “Be Addis Ababa bezirera meto bemeto new yeteshenfnew.” That will sum it up. The same pattern was repeated throughout the country except in Tigray where there was little opposition activities to begin with due to higher level of repression. The terrorist TPLF militia considers Tigray as its main base and opposition activities are much more severed there than in any other parts of the country. Any little hope the terrorist Meles/TPLF had outside Tigray was Addis Ababa as a metropolitan area where ethnic loyalities play less role in votings. Terrorist Meles/TPLF claimed the despicable 99.6% victory in the 2010 sham elections and everybody knew it was a stagemanaged election. It turned the terrorist Meles/TPLF into a laughing stock. If terrorist TPLF can claim the ridiculous 99.6% election victory in the territory it controls with ironfist, why can’t it orchestrate the grief drama for its late terrorist ringleader Meles? Is that a surprise? The Ethiopian people are under a siege by the terrorist TPLF militia and they will do whatever they are asked of in order to survive and live one more day. Taliban and Al Shebab are doing it to the people who live in the territory they control and why not the terrorist TPLF militia?
Ethiopia has loss the Great leader, PM Meles who has brought a freedom of movement in Ethiopian from regions to regions. As we know our freedom was or has been under dictator for 20 yrs by Mengustu. Now the freedom of developing and speech is in our hand as our Prime Minister wish was and it is done. Freedom of transfering power with no courabtion in EPRDF and Let the KORAwOCH make the distraction of peace. The man has done his job and we will take it over for the next generation. I love Meles and have a peace in the house of your Father, God.
AM
Mr. Awoke, you are very wrong when you call unappropriate name to our hero and visionary leader Prime Minister Meles as a terrorist. He fought for a right cause for all Ethiopians to liberate us from dark history under Dergue regime. I hope you agree with me on this unless you are sympathizer and member of Dergue. There was no freedom of Religion, speech, writing, association and political differences during Dergue regime. People were killed extrajudicially and they disappeared simply because they were suspected of being members of opposition parties. But our late prime minister Meles and his party liberated us from oppression of military junta and ushered us with democratic rights, with a new constitutions, and empowered all suppressed and exploited ethnic groups to exercise their God given liberty and freedom as Ethiopians without any discrimination. They also gave us freedom of religion, freedom of expression, formation of multiparty, etc. This regime transformed our country equally through by developing all regions in a balanced way, transformed the lives of farmers, developed roads and infrastructure, established several schools, colleges and universities in each region and zone of the country. It established health posts, clinics, medical centres and hospitals to the admiration of WHO. Safety net program was successfully used to help the needy and the government enabled our country to be self-sufficient in food during hard times. Our country became one of the fastest growing non-oil country under this regime with double digit growth for the last 7 years. It has excellent foreign policy and has attracted investors from around the world because our country became an excellent destination for investment because of its democracy, less corruption, good governance and investor friendly policies.
This regime took over debt, and bankrupt country with around 300 mega watts of electric power from Dergue and increased the energy source of our country seven-fold more than 2100 mega watts at present and made our country debt-free. Now it is building additional hydro-dams which generate upto 10,000 mega watts electric power excluding other energy sources such as ethanol, wind, etc. and our country has started exporting electricity for the first time under this regime. We were bestowed respect and glory around the world because of the work of current regime nationally, continentally and internationally. Ethiopia has never seen such a democratic, all-inclusive, development-oriented, peace loving government who was elected by the people for the people with landslide victory of 99.6% without any intimidation. After 2005 election, Ethiopians have realized that the opposition parties were simply obssessed with power mongering and they are not even ready to lead their own party intact let alone leading the country of more than 80 million peoples with more than 80 ethnic groups. The EPRDF party was shaped and strengthened through several years of struggle and achieved successful experience and it has clear agenda for the interests of the people of Ethiopia. We are seeing the fruits of their achievement in our own eyes and therefore the people of Ethiopia have rewarded this regime by a landslide vote. The so-called opposition parties fabricates innuendo and false stories against the success of our government and now they turned into arrogance, insulting and using foul words because they are defeated through peaceful political process. They cannot blame our government for their demise because they committed self-destructive acts which were vivid in our eyes. Our government is initiator, guarantor and guardian of democractic values in Ethiopia for the first time in Ethiopian history for all parties without any discrimination. It is upto the political parties to engage peacefully by renouncing violence and treason and make use opf this golden opportunity which came to us in 3000 years of our history. When you insult someone, you have to know that you are diminishing your quality and shows to me that you know nothing about democracy and its values. It shows simply that you are guided by hatered, name-calling, divisiveness, revenge, and power-mongering which was rampant in our past Ethiopian history. We don’t want that dirty and dark history to be repeated in Ethiopia. No turning back where one class, one ethnic group, one religion, etc., benefited at the exploitation, subjugation and discrimination of others. Period!!