Dagmawi, you are not alone!

 Efrem Hagos, July 26, 2007

Even though nearly 150,000 Ethiopian oppositions, students and others were killed by the Derg, we all know that half (nearly 200,000 more) of the death of the total near half million Ethiopians who died in famine death were directly caused by the Derg’s economic war. So forget about EPRDF’s various achievements. Forget about the beginning of the private press, the full freedom of religion for evangelical & Pentecostal Ethiopian protestants, the religious equality for Ethio Muslims vis-à-vis Orthodox, the empowerment (linguistic, cultural, social) of all ethnicities, the multiparty parliament and the economic growth that EPRDF government brought to Ethiopia. Forget about all of that accomplishment. But just the fact that the above amount of people died because of Hailu Shawel’s Derg should have been enough for Hailu near dead brain!  However instead of apologizing for his participation as a minister under the Derg, many years ago, Mr. Hailu Shawel criticized EPRDF by saying “Twelve years ago, Ethiopians were living in peace and harmony [under derg]. As people, they were concerned about each other’s welfare and survival. Today, a lot has changed within a short span of time that the regime is fueling hate.” So, when all those people were being killed by Hailu Shawel’s Derg, were Ethiopians really “living in peace and harmony”? Was this how much Hailu Shawel loved Derg? If the way Hailu Shawel shows that he is “concerned about” other Ethiopians is by collaborating with the Derg's genocide of a few hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians, we really, I mean, we truly wonder how Hailu displays his fury when he gains power?!!! God forbid!

I bring up this issue because to cover up his infamous position under the Derg (which he still doesn’t seem apologetic about) Mr. Hailu Shawel has always been in the business of trying to equate EPRDF with Derg. So it is not surprising that Dagmawi is engaging in a SAME venture. What a shame act like shawel!!

 Responding to Dagmawi's comments about Jeffrey/ONLF vis-à-vis WFP, is a waste of time. But let me give Dagmawi some sense. Do you trust Jeffrey's sources aka ONLF/unknown "humanitarian officials" or the UN WFP? Do you think mysterious "humanitarian officials" would tell Jeffrey, (by the way a writer in the New YORK TIMES) to supposedly "temper their criticisms"? Does this make common sense? We have never seen a rational person "not speak publicly" or keep something a secret by telling the New York times!

So it is all about who you trust. Do you trust Jeffrey Gettleman (the man who had ONLF as his best friend) or do you trust the United Nations? Do we trust a terrorist organization like ONLF or do we trust EPRDF? Believe us when we tell you Mr. Dagmawi, that without trust Ethiopia will never have a healthy multiparty system! If you are going to join the likes of Elias Kifle in making the articles of western journalists, who appear to depend on insurgents for info, or make their words the last & final word of the bible, you will certainly be part of the problem in Ethiopia ’s democratization process, not part of the solution. The likes of Ethiomedia, Abugida and ER find endless joy and ecstasy when they see a couple of western journalists mistakenly bad mouthing our leaders. Shouldn’t we Ethiopians be joyful of the judgment and hard work of our elders instead? What is the point of letting foreigners run our politics as well as the point of celebrating massacres? What direction are we going? Why has “Kinijit” became more like teremes? When is the EPRP Diaspora going to wake up and see that the future of Ethiopia is more important than revenge on EPRDF?

It seems like the UN, WFP has nicely denounced Jeffrey’s claims with a list of facts. They even took the time to mention NewYork Times by saying “Contrary to what is implied by the WFP quote in the New York Times, WFP does not consider there is a government 'blockade' on the Somali region.”   Even Jeffrey’s second attempt to cover up his mistake didn’t work. By the way, if you do some research, Mr. Jeffrey is supposedly famous for “flagrant misquotes” and he thus seems to think by including the quotes about Donald Payne, he could wash all his sins & mistakes exposed by WFP.

But of course Dagmawi is allowed to hold his own opinions.

Still what was amazing was how Dagmawi tried to compare Derg with our EPRDF heroes. One wonders if the killing of hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians by Derg is equivalent to the alleged “risk” of starvation of some Somali-Ethiopians under EPRDF. One needs only common sense to compare these two. The other thing that is becoming more and more clear is that Dagmawi’s past (brief) condolence with the victims of ONLF at the Oil facility was a complete sham! Completely Fake! If he truly was shocked with the terrorist attacks by ONLF, he would support the counter insurgency move by our government instead of falling (or defending?) the propaganda of ONLF!! Especially for a person that supports CUD (the same party that refused to even present themselves in Somali language during 2005 elections), it would have made sense if he supported the trashing of ONLF, the same group that is trying to “steal” Ethiopia’s Ogaden region away. But he is not.

Still, Dagmawi is not the only one. He is not alone. The “enemy of my enemy is my friend” ideology runs thru most EPRP and CUD Diaspora members. And this ideology sure will harm our ability to trust each other and slow down the progress of a multiparty system. I mean, how do you transfer power to a group if you don’t trust that group? Most of all, such CUD Diaspora policies will continue to risk the re-imprisonment of any CUD members who support insurgency. The EPRDF government knows that it needs to make sure that all Ethiopians staunchly obey the constitution in order for us to move forward to democracy – even more staunchly than the American founding fathers did. Especially when it comes to security matters, don’t expect any second-guessing on EPRDF’s implementation of the constitution.

But we ask the likes of Dagmawi and others only one thing. If you will continue to use the “enemy of my enemy is my friend” politics, fine… but please for Christ’s sake, don’t pretend like you care about any human life!!!!!!  It is sickening to see the double standards, lies and ignorance. When Dagmawi said “humanistic Ethiopian,” most Ethiopians must be shocked in disbelief!!!  The way some EPRP and CUD Diaspora members try to claim they are “humanistic” is just hilarious!

Do you really think you are Humanistic?

Well, what were most of CUD & EPRP Diaspora saying when ONLF massacred Ethiopians at Abole? Wasn’t it Esey esey?

What is humanistic about your EPPF? What is humanistic about your pro-Derg politicians hidden under “journalism” when they claimed Meles is a “Hitler” many years ago? When some started riots? When some spread ethnic hate?

Even after ban on demonstration, what is so humanistic about AEUP/CUD initiating the 2005 riots knowing fully well that other riots have never ended positively in the history of our country?

What is so humanistic about your EHRC organization mentioning all faults of EPRDF but never recording the massacres & killings done by OLF, ONLF, EPPF etc?

What is so humanistic about telling Tigrayans to leave Addis Ababa ? What is humanistic about the treatment of Tigrayans in Addis? Isn’t this how all mass killings begin? We should remember that Hutus with doctorate degrees and professors played a big role for propaganda during the Rwandan Genocide!!

Also what is so humanistic about your diaspora friends telling congressmen to block aid in Ethiopia ? Isn’t the CUD Diaspora trying to do the same aid blocking the Derg has been accused of?

 It is with the prayer and hard work of our leaders that aid has not been fully blocked against Ethiopia ! By the way, when CUD diaspora also accuses Meles of paying 50,000 dollars to block the anti-Aid Bill, what kind of ridiculous reasoning is that? Any leader of a poor country would use 50,000 or more dollars to stop a bill that is threatening to block the millions of dollars in aid!! Do the simple calculation. But the sadder thing is why are you even putting Ethiopia in such a position? Why not spend the thousands of dollar of wasted Diaspora lobbying for congressmen on investments in your country, instead of on a Bill that would block Aid money to Ethiopia, including the necessary AID that helps our security? Do you think lowering the Aid for security will not affect the overall usage of Ethiopia ’s revenue? Why do you do so much financial damage to your own country and poor people? Where is the humanity?

What were you saying every time ONLF and OLF claimed they killed woyane soldiers and security officers the last 17 years? Wasn’t it esey esey? Even if we assume the OLF and ONLF killed security officers, is the life of a security officer really less important than other life? Is the sorrow of the mothers of a “woyane security officers” less meaningful than the sorrow of mothers of an Ogadeni-Ethiopian in “risk” of starvation? What is so humanistic about all of these and more shameful acts of EPRP and CUD Diaspora?? Stop pointing fingers and look at yourself for a second!

I am one of those Tigrayans who is mad about the Sebhat Nega statements about Eritrea . But if CUD, EPRP and others keep playing this nonsense “enemy of my enemy is my friend” game, all of us EPRDF supporters will support the statements of Sebhat Nega, even if we don’t want to.

Before you try to point fingers about humanistic values, please look in the mirror first!