Monday, April 24, 2017

“ሆነና ነገሩ የተገላቢጦሽ ፣ አህያ ወደ ቤት ውሻ ወደ ግጦሽ”

አበው መሆን ያለበት ቀርቶ የማይሆነው ሲሆን ፣ ያለ አባቱ ያለወግ ሥርዓቱ የሆነ ነገር ሲያጋጥማቸው የሚገልጹበት ይህ አባባል ተቀዋሚ ተብሎ ለተሰለፈው ግን ምን ለምን እንዴት? አንደሚወም ለማያውቀው ቢያወቅም በወሬ እንጂ በተግባ  ለማይገኘው ወገን ድርጊት በጣሙን ገላጭ ይመስለኛል፡፡ ድርጊት እየጠቀሱና ማስረጃ እያጣቀሱ በዚህ አባባል የሚገለጹ በርካት ጉዳዮችን ማንሳት የሚቻል ቢሆንም ለዛሬ ግን አንዱን ብቻ በእጅጉ የተጠናወተንን የመርሳት በሽታ/ችግር ብቻ ላንሳ፡፡ ግን ከዛ በፊት ርእስ ያደረኩትን አባባል ባስታወሰኩ ቁጥር ፈጥኖ በአእምሮየ የሚመጣ አንድ ነገር አለ፣፡ ፕሮፌሰሩ ከአሜሪካ ወደ ትግል ሜዳ ኮረኔሉ ከትግል ሜዳ ወደ አውሮፓ ከአባባሉ ጋር የተዛመደ አይደለም ትላላችሁ፡፡ ኮረኔሉ ግዴለም መሄዱን ይሂድ እዛ ሆኖ ታጋይ ነኝ ማለቱ እንዲህም ብሎ አጃቢና ተከታይ ማግኘቱ ግን አዬ! እኛ ያሰኛል፡፡
የወጋ ቢረሳ የተዋጋ አይረሳ፣
አባባሉ የሚገልጸው በተግባርም የሚሆነውና መሆን ያለበት በዳይ ይረሳል ተበዳይ ግን ሁሌም ያስታውሳል ነው፡፡ እኛ ግን ሥልጣኔ ገብቶን ይሁን ይኼ የመንደር/የጎሳ ፖለቲካ አፍዝዞ አደንዝዞን፣  በደሉ ሳይሰማን ቀርቶ ይሁን  የዲያስፖራ ኑሮ አቅል ነስቶን ባይታወቅም የትናንቱን በደል እየረሳን ለዛሬው እንጮኻለን፣ የዛሬውን ደግሞ ነገ እንረሳውና ሌላ አዲስ ሲገጥመን ኡ.ኡ እንላለን፡፡ ለዚህ ዝርዝር ማቅረብ ያለብኝ አይመስለኝም፡፡ ደግሞስ ሰንቱን አቀርቤ እችለዋለሁ፡፡ሌላው ቀርቶ ዛሬ በፕ/ር ዓሥራት ወልደየስ ስም ለመነገድ የሚጣጣሩት ወገኖች እንዴትና በምን ሁኔታ እንደሞቱ አያስታውሱም ማስታወስም አይፈልጉም፡፡ በአስክሬናቸው የሽኝት ፕሮግራም ላይ ሎሬት ጸጋዬ ገብረ መድህን ያቀረቡትን ግጥም ማግኘት ባልችልም አሰራት…በሽታህ እንኳን ሳይታወቅ ያሉትን እነዚህ ወገኖች ስለማወቃቸው እጠራጠራሉ፡፡ ለሞት ያበቃቸው በሽታ ምንነት መታወቅ ትልቅ ፋይዳ ያለው ቢሆንም ይህን ያሰበበት ቀርቶ የሚያስታውሰው የለም፡፡  ይህም በመሆኑ ከዛ ወዲህ በተለያየ ግዜ ታስረው የተፈቱ ፖለቲከኞች እነርሱ እንኳን በማያውቁት ሁኔታ በእስር ቤት የተለያየ ነገር ተሰጥቶአቸው  ጤናቸው ታውኮ እንኳን ለእስር የበቁበትን ፖለቲካ ሊቀጥሉ  ኑሮአቸው ደራሲው  አቤ ጉበኛ  “ባልሞትም ሞቻለሁ” አይነት ኑሮ የሚገፉ ቢኖሩም እኛ ግን አናውቃቸውም፡፡ እኛ ጉደኞቹ የገደለንንም የሞተልንንም እኮ ነው የምንረሳው፡፡
በተደጋጋሚ አስረውት እምቢ ሲላቸው አፍነው ወስደው የት እንዳደረሱት፣ ምን እንዳደረጉት የማይታወቀውን የአዲስ አበባ ዩኒቨርስቲ ተማሪና የመአህድ አባል የነበረውን ወጣት  ስንት ሰው ያስታውሰዋል፡፡ የሚገርመው ፓርቲዎችም የተገደሉ የተሰወሩ በወህኒ ያሉ አባሎቻቸውን ማስታወስ አይደለም አይውቋቸውም፡፡እንዲህ እንዲህ እየተባለ ሰንቱ ተነስቶ ይዘለቃል፡፡ የወያኔ የግፍ ተግባር ብዛቱ ይሆን እንድንረሳ የሚያደርገን? አይመስለኝም፡፡ እንደውም የሀገሬ አርሶ አደር “ሰው ግደሉ ሰው መግደል ይበጃል እንዲህ እንዲሁ ሲል ጠላት ይደረጃል” ነበር የሚለው፡፡ እኛ ግን በወያኔ የሚፈጸመው ማናቸውም ነገር ሊያደረጀንና ሊያደራጀን ቀርቶ በደሉ ግፉ ራሱ አይታወሰንም፡፡ ይህም ለወያኔ በእጅጉ ጠቅሞታል በሥልጣን የመቆያው ዋናው መፍትሄም ሆኖታል፡፡
የትናትን ግድያ አፈናና እስር የሚያስታወስ ፈጻሚው በቦታው እስካለ ድረስ ዛሬም መደገሙ ነገም መቀጠሉ አይቀሬ መሆኑን ስለሚረዳ መላ ይመታል ዘዴ ይዘይዳል፡፡ የመላውም የዘዴውም ማጠንጠኛው ደግሞ አንድ ነው፡፡ አጥፊ እስካለ ጥፋት ገዳይ እስካለ አለአግባብ መገደል ወዘተ አይቀርምና አጥፊውን ማስወገድ ገዳዩን አስቀድሞ መግደል ፡፡ የሸረሪቷን ድር በየቀኑ በማጽዳት ከመቸገር እሷን አስወግዶ መገላገል የሚባለው ለዚህ አይነቱ ነገር ይመስለኛል፡፡
እኛ ግን የትናቱ ለዛሬ የሚረሳን በመሆኑ ሲፈጸም ማላዘን እንጂ  አጥፈውን አስወግደን እፎይ ለማለት ቀርቶ  እንዳይደገም ለመከላከልም ለመጠንቀቅም የምንችል አልሆንምና በአንድ አስተሳሰብ እየተመራን በአንድ መንገድ እየተጓዝን ወያኔ እየረገጠን እኛ ደግሞ ርስ በርስ በምንችለው በአለ አቅማችን እየተረጋገጥን እንዳለነው አለን፡፡ ይቀጥላልም፡፡
ወያኔ ግን የተሰራበትን አይደለም የሰራውንም አይረሳም፣ አያችሁ! እዚህም ጋር የተገላቢጦሽ ነው ነገሩ፡፡ የሚባለው መሆንም ያለበት “የወጋ ቢረሳ የተወጋ አይረሳ” ነበር፣ ግና የተገላቢጦሽ ሆነና ነገሩ እኛ ተወግተን ስንረሳ ወያኔ ግን የወጋውንም የተወጋውንም  አይረሳ፡፡ ለዚህም ነው አንድም ነገር በቸልታ የማያልፈው፣ ንቆ የማይተወው፡፡እንደውም በገዛ ጥላው ሳይቀር እየደነበረ ኮሽ ባለ ቁጥር የሚተኩሰውና ንጹሀንን የሚገለው፣የሀሰት ክስ እየፈበረከ የሚያስረው፡፡አሰቡ ብሎ የሚወነጅለው፡፡
ከደደቢት አንስቶ በተናጠል በዜጎች ላይ በጅምላ በሀገርና በሕዝብ ላይ የፈጸመውን የማይረሳው  ግዝፈቱን ኢህጋዊና ኢሰብአዊነቱን ስለሚያውቀው ከሥልጣን ቢወርድ ስለሚጠብቀው የህግ ተጠያቂነት በማሰብ ነው፡፡ ለወያኔ ይህን መርሳት ማለት የሥልጣን ማጥበቂያ ሰንሰለቱን፣ ማስጠበቂያ ጡንቻውን አላላ ማለት ነው፡፡ ስለሆነም  አያደርገውም፣ ሁሌ ያስታውሰዋል፣እናም ትንሽ ኮሽ ሲል ጠመንጃውን ወልውሎ ምላሱን ስሎ ይሰለፋል፡፡ ራሱን ይሰድባል ባለሥልጣናቱን ይወነጅላል ( ነገር ግን አይጠየቁም) ይህን እደርጋለሁ በዚህም በኩል እዘምታለሁ በማለት ይቀላምዳል፡፡ ውሸትህ ሰለቸን ፣ የበሰበሰ ይጣላል እንጂ አያገለግልም፣ ስሩ የደረቀ ዛፍ ተነቅሎ ይወገዳል እንጂ ውኃ አያጠጡትም አይኮተኩቱትም ሲባል የተካነበትን ጠመንጃውን ያሰቀድማል፡፡
የተደረገበትን የሚያስታውሰው ደግሞ እንዳይደገምበት ነው፡፡ በገፍ ያሰራቸውን ዜጎች “አይደገምም” የሚል ጽሁፍ ያለበት ካናቴራ አልብሶ መልቀቁን ረሳነው ይሆን! ፡፡ ሥልጣን ለወያኔ የቤተ መንግሥት ዙፋን ብቻ አለመሆኑ ብዙ የተባለበትም የተባለለትም ነው፡ደግሞ ለማለት ማን ብሎን ማንስ አህሎን፡ የምንለውን የመሆን ጥያቄ እይምጣ እንጂ፡፡ ታዲያ ወያኔ ይሄን ሁሉ ነገሩ የሆነውን ሥልጣን የሚነቀንቅበት ነገር ሲያጋጥመው ፈጥኖ ገዳይ በማሰማራት ጸጥ ያደርጋል፡፡ እኛም ለቀናት ወይ ለአንድ ሁለት ሳምንታት አናላዝንና እንረሰዋለን፡፡ የምንረሳው ደግሞ የተደረገብንን ብቻ አይደለም ያደረግነውንም የሞከርነውንም እንጂ፡፡ ያ ባይሆን ትናንት ሞክረን የከሸፈብንን ዛሬ በዛው ስልትና መንገድ አንደግመውም ነበር፡፡ ወያኔ ግን አይደለም መርሳት ለአፍታም መዘንጋት ብሎ ነገር አያውቅምና እኛ ወያኔ እንዲህ አደረገ ብለን ስንጮህ ስንጯጯህ እሱ ይህ ሊሆን የቻለው እንዴት፣ ለምን፣ በምን፣ ምክንያትና በእነማን ወዘተ ነው? ብሎ ምርመራ ይቀመጣል፣ከዛም እንዳይደገም ማድረግ ያሰችለኛል ያለውን ርምጃ ሁሉ ይወስዳል፡፡ ለዚህ ደግሞ ከምርጫ 97 በኋላ የወጡ አዋጆችን የተወሰዱ ርምጃዎችን ማስታወሱ በቂ ነው፡ ይህንንም ካልረሳነው፡፡ ቅንጅቶች የታሰሩት ብቻቸውን ሳይሆን ለሥልጣን ሊያበቃቸው ከነበረው “እንከን የለሽ ምርጫ” ጋር እንደነበረ ምን ያህሎቻችን እናስታውስ ይሆን? እነርሱ በይቅርታ ተፈቱ ምርጫ ግን የሚያስፈታው ወይ ሽማግሌ፣ ወይ ፖለቲከኛ፣ ወይንም አርበኛ ጠፍቶ ዛሬም ቃሊቲ ነው የሚገኘው፡፡ ይሄን ማስታወስ ተስኖን ምርጫ እያልን በ2002 እና በ2007 የወያኔ አድማቂ ከመሆን ያለፈ ያልፈየድነው ለዚህ ነው፡፡
ወያኔ ማረሳሳቱን እኛ መርሳቱን ተክነንበታል፣ ወያኔ ከደደቢት እስከምንይልክ ቤተ መንግሥት የሥልጣን ጎዙውን ለማደናቀፍ ከዛም ወዲህ ወንበሩን ለመነቅነቅ የተደረጉ የተሞከሩበትን አይደለም የታሰቡ ያላቸውን ሁሉ ፈጽሞ አይዘነጋም፣ በተመሳሳይም እርሱም የፈጸማቸውን  አይረሳም፡፡ እኛ ተቀዋሚ የምንባለው አይነተ ብዙዎቹም ተሞክሮ ከከሸፈው፣ ታስቦ ካልተፈጸመው ተምረን በሚያደርስብን በደል ከመማረር ወደ ማምረር ተሸጋግረን ለወንበሩ ስጋት የሚሆን ኃይል እንዳንፈጠር  አዳዲስ ነገር እየሰጠ ያለፈውን ያስረሳናል ያረሳሳናል፡፡ ተሀድሶ፣ ግምገማ፣ህዛባዊ ውይይት፣ከምሁራን ጋር ውይይት፣ የድርድር ጥሪ፣የተወሰኑ ትናንሽ ባለሥልጣናትን ማባረር፣ ራስን ተጠያቂ አድርጎ ማውራት ወዘተ ከማረሳሻ ዘዴዎቹ የሚጠቀሱት ናቸው፡፡የሚገርመው የእኛ ለዚህ ምቹ መሆን ነው፡፡ አምና ካቻምና  ተሀድሶ ብሎ  ምንም ለውጥ እንዳላሳየ እያየን ዘንድሮም ታድሼ እመጣለሁ እኔው እሻላችኋለሁ ሲል ይለወጣል ብሎ ተስፋ ማድረግ ትናንትን መርሳት ብቻ ሳይሆን ይቅርታ ይደረግልኝና መጃጃል ነው፡፡ይህም በመሆኑ ነው ወያኔ በአንድ መንገድ እየተጓዘ በአንድ አስተሳሰብ እየተመራ ሀያ አምስት አመት ለመግዛት የበቃው፡፡ተበዳዩ ለመጃጃል ራሱን ካዘጋጀ በዳዩ እያጃጃለ ለመግዛት ምን ይገደዋል፡
የወያኔ ባለሥልጣናት በጨነቃቸው ቁጥር ለማስተንፈሻ፣ ቁጣ ባየለባቸው ግዜ ለማረሳሻ የተናገሩዋቸው ነገሮችን ብቻ ማስታወስ ብንችል በሥልጣን መቀጠል እንደሌለባቸው የራሳቸው ምስክርነት ብቻ በቂ ነው፡፡በኦሮምያ የህዝቡ አመጽ ሊገቱት ቀርቶ ሊገድቡት የማይችሉት ሲሆንባቸው የተወሰኑት የህዝቡ ጥያቄ ትክክልና ዴሞክራሲያዊ ነው አሉ፣ሌሎቹን አዘዙና ደግሞ የጸጥታ ኃይሉ የወሰደው ርምጃ ተገቢ ነው ለዚህ ተግባሩም ምስጋና ይገባዋል አስባሉ፡፡ይህ ራሳቸው በራሳቸው ላይ የመሰከሩበት በሥልጣን ላይ አንድም ቀን እንዲያድሩ የማያበቃቸው ትልቅ ወንጀል ቢሆንም እኛ  በእለት በእለቱ የሚሰጠንን  እየያዘን መጮህ እንጂ ትናንትን ማስታወስ ስለ ነገም አርቆ ማሰብ የተነፈግነው አይነተ ብዙዎቹ እኛ ግን ይህን አይደለም በገፍና በግፍ የተገደሉትንም የታሰሩትንም እረስተን ለዛሬ በዛሬ ጉዳይ እንጮሀለን፡፡
ዳኞች በስልክ ትዕዛዝ ውሳኔ እንደሚሰጡ፤ አቃቤ ህግ የሀሰት ምስክር አሰልጥኖ እንደሚያስመሰክር፣አስፈጻሚው አካል በፍትህ ሥርዓቱ ውስጥ ጣልቃ እንደሚገባ ወዘተ በጥናት ደረስንበት ብለው ከነገሩን አመት ያለፈው መሰለኝ፣ያው መርሳት አይደል ችግራችን፡፡ ይህ ውይ! እነዚህ ሰዎች ችግራቸው ገብቷቸዋል ሊለወጡ ነው መሻሻያ ሊያደርጉ ነው ብለን ሁሉን እንድንረሳ የቀረበ ማረሳሻ እንጂ ሌላ ባለመሆኑ ከነገሩን አንዱንም አልሰሩትም፡፡ ሰሞኑንም ሌላ በጥናት ደረስንበት ያሉትን እየሰማን ነው፡፡ እነርሱ በሥልጣን ያቆየን አንዱ ብልሀት ይሄ ነው ብለው አምነው የሚፈጽሙት ነውና ትክክል ናቸው፡፡ በየግዜው በሚሰጠን ማዘናጊያ የምንዘናጋ በማረሳሻው የምንረሳ  ለመታለል/ለመጃጃል የተዘጋጀነውስ.. ልብ ይስጠን፡፡

The T-TPLF Spook That Sat by the Jailhouse Door in Ethiopia (Part I)

TPLF PRISON SPOOKS IN ETHIOPIA
Author’s Note: This is Part I of a two-part translation of an Amharic interview[1] with a former, now-exiled anonymous T-TPLF  “mole” (deep- cover intelligence operative) who was trained to infiltrate  prisons in Ethiopia to snitch on political prisoners, persuade them to falsely admit criminal wrongdoing and recruit younger prisoners to give false testimony in court against well-known imprisoned opposition leaders. In the interview, the T-TPLF mole spills the beans to Sadik Ahmed (BBN Radio) on the stockpile of T-TPLF dirty tricks used against political prisoners and military officers who are not part of the ethnic group of the T-TPLF leaders. The mole discussed how he was trained and equipped by T-TPLF intelligence bosses to snoop on political prisoners, extract information from them and do other intelligence and surveillance work on top non-T-TPLF ethnic group military officers.
The T-TPLF mole tells a chilling story of his game of deception as fake prisoner to 1) spy and report on the prison activities of particular political prisoners, 2) gain the confidence of political prisoners and extract information from them about their plans, activities and opinions, 3) recruit and organize a gang of younger prisoners to give false testimony against jailed political prisoners  by coaching them to make out perjured legal declarations claiming that they were trained and paid by opposition leaders and parties to commit crimes, and 4) convince jailed opposition leaders to publicly admit their own criminality and request pardon to be released.
The identity of the former T-TPLF mole is not disclosed in the interview.
The interview reveals the extraordinary lengths to which the T-TPLF will go to not only arrest, detain and torture its opposition but also the reprehensible psychological warfare it wages on innocent opposition leaders it has imprisoned. It is nothing short of diabolical for a regime to arrest innocent opposition leaders who have committed no crimes or were engaged in the peaceful exercise of their constitutional rights and subject them to psychological pressure to force them to falsely confess to heinous crimes they did not commit only to be magnanimously pardoned by the T-TPLF.  Such unimaginable wickedness can only be forged in the workshop of the truly degenerate Satanic mind.
The interview also offers a unique glimpse into the T-TPLF intelligence system and the vile techniques  used to neutralize and discredit promising military leaders who do not belong to the ethnic group of the T-TPLF leaders.
I am making translations of the personal accounts of T-TPLF torture victims and others who have decided to come forward and tell the truth about T-TPLF crimes and atrocities to ensure that my readers, particularly those in the diverse international policy-making communities, have a clear understanding of the type of regime they are supporting by willfully turning a blind eye and deaf ears. I am aiming my translations specifically at the donor and loaner communities who regularly follow my weekly commentaries. I hope the firsthand accounts of torture and abuse committed by the T-TPLF will prick their consciences (I know there is a snowball’s chance in hell of that happening) as they sign over the big fat checks for hundreds of millions of dollars to the T-TPLF bosses year after year. I want to remove any chance of their claiming plausible deniability (But we did not know!) There is an old Ethiopian saying about the man pretending to be asleep. You can push him off the bed and he will still pretend to be asleep. It is the same thing for the donors and loaners who pour billions to prop up T-TPLF rule in Ethiopia.  The damnable hypocrites know beyond a shadow of doubt that the T-TPLF is a gang of ruthless and vicious criminal thugs but they continue to support it as the “government” of Ethiopia.
It is important for those who have suffered under T-TPLF rule to come out, speak up and tell their stories. The silence of the innocent lambs tortured and abused is the greatest weapon in the arsenal of T-TPLF leaders. The T-TPLF victimizes its victims not only by torturing and abusing them but also by traumatizing them in stony silence. If those victims do not muster the courage and strength to testify against the T-TPLF in the court of world opinion, it may be too late for them to testify against them in a court of law. If they do not come forward and tell their stories of torture and abuse, no one else can tell it for them. These victims have gone through T-TPLF hell on earth and survived. What is there to fear for those who have touched the face of (d)evil?
On the other hand, I believe justice is like a delayed train. One may have to wait and wait and wait for the train to arrive. But a delayed train always arrives, always; but it arrives only when it arrives, unscheduled, unexpectedly, unforeseen, unwarned and unpredictably.
“How long for the Justice Train to arrive in Ethiopia?” Not long.
Not long!
Life imitating art in T-TPLF’s Ethiopia?
When I first heard the T-TPLF “mole” interview last week, it reminded me of the 1973 movie, “The Spook Who Sat by the Door”. In that fictional story, the African American protagonist is recruited by the CIA as a token black to show the CIA is racially integrated. Unbeknown to the CIA, the African American recruit is a black nationalist. The CIA trains him in a variety of operational, combat,  communications and asymmetrical warfare techniques. After serving the CIA for a while, he quits in disgust and returns to Chicago as a social worker, but actually  begins to organize street gangs into a paramilitary black revolutionary movement as “Freedom Fighters” to bring down white supremacy in  America.
The real life T-TPLF spook who sat by the jailhouse door has a much more dramatic and revolting story to tell as he lived a life of a fake prisoner spying on political prisoners held by the Thugtatorship of the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (T-TPLF). The T-TPLF spook also left his spying job disgusted and with an overwhelming sense of moral guilt for his contemptible service to uphold and champion the T-TPLF political order in Ethiopia, and with a reinvigorated sense of Ethiopian nationalism to wage a struggle against T-TPLF black apartheid rule. There is an invisible army of T-TPLF moles, undercover agents, informers, operatives and spies that have infested Prison Nation Ethiopia. Their salvation, like the mole interviewed in this episode, comes only through a confession of guilt and redemption through the grace and forgiveness of the Ethiopian people and affirmation of their patriotic obligation to their country and defiance to the rule of a gang of thugs.    
PART I OF A TWO-PART TRANSLATION
Sadik Ahmed: Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed. We wanted to contact you to get additional evidence concerning the process by which [the T-TPLF regime] tried to spy on jailed opposition political leaders who were jailed following the 2005 election.  We know you were one of the fake prisoners sent into the prisons for the purpose of spying on the opposition leaders. Could you explain to us how that situation unfolded?
Former T-TPLF Mole: In the 2005 elections, there were 96 of us who joined the struggle [reference not clear]. After we got out, we became acquainted with intelligence gathering and spying. There were 32 of us available [to join the intelligence service] but they [T-TPLF] recruited  16 of us. [Because we could speak] the language, we were sent to Oromia and Addis Ababa to do intelligence work.
Regarding the [2005] election, they gave us a big budget and made us observers.
In the vote count, they [T-TPLF] were defeated totally. But it was not possible for them to engage in vote fraud [easily] so they jailed all of the opposition leaders.
After they jailed the opposition leaders, they selected three Tigreans and myself and put us in Maekelawi [Central] prison (commonly known as “torture central”) as [fake prisoners]. We were jailed for the pretended crime of involvement to overthrow the constitutional order. Once we joined the prison population we were treated like the rest of the prisoners, and we were even placed in solitary in the “dark cell” (chelema bet). [To make it appear convincing], they even made us look like we had been beaten, tortured and mistreated. We were kept in the same cells with the other prisoners. For instance, I was with Engineer Hailu and Birtukan Midekssa [leaders of Kinijit opposition coalition] and was able to create close relations with them. My mission was to evaluate and report on their ideas and opinions.
Sadik Ahmed: Would you explain how were you able to get close enough to spy on Judge Birtukan Midekssa [since she was held in the women’s section of the prison]?
Former T-TPLF Mole: At the time men and women were held in different places. But I had a job delivering food (“rations”) to the women prisoners three times a day. The women cook in the kitchen but the men prisoners deliver the cooked food. That’s how I had access [to Birtukan].
Sadik Ahmed: Did you have the opportunity to meet Judge Birtukan? Did you try to exploit her weaknesses to get information?
Former T-TPLF Mole: At the time she was among those accused of trying to overthrow the constitutional order. There was a great public uproar about her imprisonment because she had a baby daughter. They [T-TPLF) were being severely criticized by the public for jailing the nursing mother of a new-born baby. My effort was to focus on the needs [and hardship] of her baby and to get her to confess to committing the crime she was accused of and to agree to ask for a pardon and get out of prison. I wanted to persuade her to admit she was one of those who tried to overthrow the constitutional order, that she abandoned her responsibility and oath of office and tried to mobilize against the constitutional order by violence. [I tried to convince] her to ask the [T-TPLF] and Ethiopian people for a pardon [after admitting her crimes] and get out of prison. [By the way], it was not just me but also many well-known elders were sent to convince her about this, but they did not have as much access to her as we did from the inside. But her stand was very clear and well known. She said absolutely NO! Never. She said, “My daughter is the daughter of all Ethiopians. Let them raise her.”
Sadik Ahmed: Engineer Hailu [Shawul] is now dead, but when he was in prison he suffered torture and later got out. How did you get close enough to spy on him?
Former T-TPLF Mole: The guy sent to spy on Engineer Hailu is named Hailemelekot, a Tigrinya-speaker. He was born and raised in Addis Ababa, but he is a Tigrean and Tigrinya-speaker. He has no problem speaking [Amharic], and he had a better approach than we did to get along with people.
I tried to get close to Hailu Shawul  but at the time we did not have the knowledge (technique) and understanding about what to do. Engineer Hailu was also accused of another crime in prison, organizing prisoners and violating prison rules. It is difficult for me to tell the types of abuses and mistreatment  Engineer Hailu suffered. It is shocking [to the conscience]. Recently, one of our brothers (Habtamu Ayalew) has explained [the torture and abuse] it. It is very shocking what happened to Engineer Hailu Shawul. He was the victim of unspeakable horrors.
Sadik Ahmed: How long were you jailed as a fake prisoner at Maekelawi?
Former T-TPLF Mole: I was at Maekelawi for one month. Then I was sent straight to Dedesa [a former military base where thousands of detainees have been dumped”]. That was where many young Ethiopians and opposition leaders were jailed.
There were 8 of us who joined up with the prisoners in Dedesa. There were some Oromigna speakers from the east. I was from the northeast, but there were others from the central and the east. As they were sifting through the thousands of detainees, our job was to find out who is mobilizing and financing the young [protesters].  At the time, the younger detainees were convinced that the regime will leave power. So our job was to find out who is giving them their mission and what they were doing and to encourage them to testify falsely that Engineer Hailu and others were paying big money to train them. We wanted to convince them to testify falsely in court in exchange for a pardon to get out of jail. That was our mission. We told them we will be testifying that Engineer Hailu and Kinijit had appropriated a large amount of money to finance the disturbances and create chaos.  We wanted them to testify that Engineer Hailu made them leaders of the disturbances. Our aim was to get as many young people as we can to testify in court against Engineer Hailu and be released from jail. That is the kind of persuasion work we were doing.
Sadik Ahmed: Were there any young people ready to testify falsely against Engineer Hailu Shawul?
Former T-TPLF Mole: Indeed. Not just children but also young adults. So there will be no mention in court that they were testifying because they were tortured or beaten, our mission was to tell them that even we, ourselves, will testify. When they see us giving out statements [to T-PLF officials], then we become examples for them to follow. Of course, we were  not going to testify because our mission is different. Our job was to get 20-30 young people and convince them to testify falsely. These young people were required to give their statements formally to the prosecutor and the judge before they were released from Dedesa .
Sadik Ahmed: How did you approach the young prisoners? As criminals? What reasons did you give them about how you ended up in jail?
I and a friend who comes from Harar region pretended we were transferred from Zwai prison. We told them [young people] we were jailed because we were charged as dangerous criminals who committed terrorism. [To make it convincing] our heads were shaved just like any other prisoner and treated like every other prisoner. There were even times when we got beaten. We tried to look and behave like them in order to convince them. After I left Dedesa, I was sent for training to Awash Arba cadet training center.
Sadik Ahmed: When you were being recruited for this work, how did you decide to become loyal to the regime and become [a mole]?   Why were you doing this, become a prisoner, be beaten, sit in the cold chamber of Maekelawi and face hardship? How did you convince yourself? Were you trying to show your loyalty to the regime or did you do it because you were a naïve young person?
Former T-TPLF Mole: There is a situation once you join the military that makes you change yourself [brainwash]. When you work in intelligence, it is different than being an ordinary soldier where you bust your behind for six days a week. They will dock you 5 or 10 percent of your pay for the simplest thing, like if your uniform is out of line. [There is a lot of fear.] [We expected to get paid a lot of money.] When we got there the salary promised was 570 birr, but after we got there we were paid 283.20 birr. Then there is a big budget for doing intelligence work. This encourages you to be loyal to the regime to a high degree. The other reason is that once you begin at the bottom and reach the top level of the military and have achieved, you don’t want to go back to the lower ranks and bust your behind. You get to do things that ordinary soldiers are not allowed. You can wear your hair as you want and dress as you like. You don’t have to wear a uniform and have a free lifestyle. That was attractive to younger people in the force. The fear of going back to the lower ranks and being with the less educated soldiers or former regime soldiers is not attractive. So you are forced to honor and be loyal to the regime (T-TPLF] and serve it willingly.
Sadik Ahmed:  Did your family worry when you were in prison. How did you communicate with them?
Former T-TPLF Mole: No. no. no. No one knows what we do, not even the military unit from which we are recruited. You are engaged in a top secret activity. You are not even allowed to exchange telephone numbers with anyone. During the 2005 election, there were not many cell phones but they give you recording technology that is voice-activated.
Second, you could put your family in danger by communicating with them. The kind of intelligence gathering I did could result in death and severe imprisonment of someone. If that person knows you, he could hurt my family. It can also demoralize the military unit from which I came [if they knew I am a mole]. Third, when you do this, an enemy force could find out and follow you and try to buy you off or kidnap you and make you work for them [as double agent]. It is not only family members but also your very best friend who would save your life must not know you do this work.
If you have a good leader [case officer], he will return you to your former unit or discharge you from service and return you to your family.
If you have been a good agent [and know a lot], he will have you assaulted by an unknown person and make you disabled and have you work in another capacity.  That is the extent to which they will go to ensure that you have no communication [completely isolated].
Sadik Ahmed:  When you go into prisons and try to convince people to give false testimony against political prisoners, did they give you secret electronic recording devices to wear to make sure they do not miss out on any information you get from prisoners?
Former T-TPLF Mole: The amazing thing is that you don’t do this kind of work without an electronic device. There is a voice recorder the size of a Samsung cell phone battery which you can put anywhere on your body or wear like a watch on your wrist so no one suspects. You record the information that way. You don’t present your information as a special report. They hear the direct electronic audio transmission of your conversation [not your summary] [from the electronic device you are wearing].  Second, the top prison officials are told secretly to take it easy on us, and the lower level officers are told to do the same. When we say we are sick, even when we are not, we are allowed to go at any time of the night. We can go to the toilet anytime we wanted even though other prisoners cannot. Usually, when we have to go to the toilet at night, the feeling among the rest of the cellmates is that you are doomed to go to the “dark cell” [hell hole]. But we would sleep somewhere and before dawn just before the prisoners come out, they put us in the dark cell to make it look like we spent the night there. Since people assume you actually spent the night in the dark cell and suffered abuse, everyone believes you. They believe you whatever story [of beating and torture] you make up to tell them. No one will suspect. They feel sorry for you. What we did was a dirty job.
They [T-TPLF] don’t even trust the top officers at the Awash Arba officer training center. When an officer is promoted to full colonel or general, he is sent for training to Awash Arba. But they don’t even trust those officers. They will check their political stands, how long they want to serve, their ethnicity, what they want and so on. That’s what we were doing [finding out this information].
Sadik Ahmed:  Are you suggesting that prisoners at Kality and Qilinto should be careful of electronic surveillance that any conversation they have can be electronically monitored?
Former T-TPLF Mole: Prisoners need to know that they should not exchange information with anyone they do not know under any circumstances because they made jailhouse friendships. This is obvious. The regime puts a lot of people in prison [to do the kind of work we did]. For example, recently, a year ago or so in Dessie when they were campaigning, “Let our voice be heard”, I used to phone a friend of mine. He told me he was going to Dessie, a Muslim area. He is a Muslim and was born there. There was a Muslim leader there, Sheik Nuru, who was killed. Woyane (T-TPLF) is the one who got him killed and we exchanged ideas about how the blame could be shifted from the [woyane criminals] to someone who had quarrels with the sheik or the people in the area. To do this kind of work they train them [intelligence officers] in whatever fields necessary. They will train them to look like sheiks, criminals or a poor person. There are even individuals who are given training in the Quran and use that to convince the Muslims to support the regime.
Sadik Ahmed:  So it is necessary to be careful in prison at all times and hours because of spies? To whom did you report [your case officer]?
Former T-TPLF Mole: There was a Tigrean officer [to whom I would report] who was expected to become a general but died. There is an officer from Silte named Shukur who is a full colonel today. The highest intelligence officers were General Saere Mekonnen [to whom I reported] when there was something special to report.
There is a chain of command. When we spy in Oromia kilil, we go to Saera Mekonnen. When in Amhara kilil we reported to General Kemal Gelchu.
Sadik Ahmed: You are not Oromo but can speak Oromigna language because you were born in the Oromiya region. Was there a situation where you had to spy on General Kemal Gelchu?
Former T-TPLF Mole: I did not spy on Kemal Gelchu. At the time, the rank and file soldiers were raising the seven-year service issue at a high-level. When you first sign up for the military it was for seven years. They [T-TPLF] believed that if you go directly to a military unit at enlistment, you could be contaminated [with views against the T-TPLF]. They get you into intelligence when you are fresh recruit after 6 months. They select you if they think you have ability and potential. They keep you in training. There were others above us who have better knowledge [and more qualified]. If you are an Oromo or Oromo-speaker, they will not let you join or relate with other Oromos or high-level Oromo-speakers.  By the way, when I say the “highest level”, Oromo officers at most reach the level of major or lieutenant colonel. They don’t even reach full colonel. If they do, it is a political appointment. They go to Awash Arba for a year or 2 or at most 3-5 years. Then they become generals. There they are (invited to join the circle of corruption) and allowed to engage in corrupt practices. That’s how they corrupt Oromo generals and keep them from achieving top military levels. They don’t want them to get to the top levels. The same for officers from the South. These officers don’t have education or critical thinking skills. All they think about is the money they make and the house they will get when they leave service. When he [Oromo officer] reaches the rank of colonel, he is given a villa house and lifetime pension. That is how they trick them. Such is their structure.
Sadik Ahmed: When you say they will drown them in a muck of corruption, how do they do it exactly? Or do they push a military officer to be involved in corruption? Is it through intelligence work or something else?
Former T-TPLF Mole: Money is tempting. Even if it is 50 or 60 birr, they will pocket it. No big thing. How they spread corruption is, for instance, in my experience, they [T-TPLF] once arranged for 15 soldiers (TPLF cadres ) to desert their unit all at once. They did that as a pretext to get rid of a particular officer. When such desertion occurs, it raises issues of leadership for the officer. If 15 soldiers desert at one time, it must mean the officer has leadership problems. They use that to remove the officer and make other arrangements [to take his position]. But since the officer is afraid to tell his commanding officers that 15 soldiers in his unit deserted, he will underreport and say 3 or 4 deserted. Then he will pocket the budget [for the other 11 or 12 officers] who had deserted. These soldiers are accounted for at the division or regimental level. Second, there is an operational budget. He will pocket some of that too. There are also military clubs that provide entertainment to the troops. These clubs have large revenue. [They will dip into that too.] They [T-TPLF] will suddenly come and do an audit of the clubs and if they find a tiny discrepancy, they will get rid of the officer. This is how they play the officers [in their corruption game].
To be continued…. 
[1] Translation of speech or text often presents some technical problems. Some of them are lexical-semantic; others are grammatical and syntactic. Even more difficult to translate are rhetorical ones involving metaphors and figures of speech. I have aimed for accuracy and meaning in this translation. Any errors and inaccuracies in translation are exclusively mine.

Sunday, April 2, 2017

የአስቸኳይ ጊዜ አዋጁ መራዘም የህወሃትን የሥልጣን ዕድሜ ለማራዘም ማስተማመኛ ሊሆን አይችልም! (አርበኞች ግንቦት 7 ኢዲቶርያል)

የኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ ከ26 አመታት የህወሃት አገዛዝ ቦኋላ እየጠየቀ ያለው “በገዛ አገሬ እንደ ሁለተኛ ዜጋ መቆጠሬ ይቁም! አያት ቅድመ አያቶቼ በከፈሉት መስዋዕትነት የባዕድ ወረራን መክታ በነጻነት በኖረች አገሬ ለውጭ ባለሃብቶች እትብቴ ከተቀበረበት ቄዬ መፈናቀሌ ይብቃ! በመንግሥት ሚዲያዎች የሚለፈፈው ልማትና ዕድገት ተጠቃሚው ሥልጣንን የሙጥኝ ያላችሁት እናንተ የህወሃት ልጆችና በአገሪቱ ላይ ለምታካሂዱት ዘረፈ ብዙ የሃብት ዘረፋ ትርፍራፊ እየተወረወረላቸው ሽፋን የሆኑዋችሁ ከዚህም ከዚያም የተገኙ ጥቂት ለግል ጥቅም የተጠጉዋችሁ ግለሰቦች እንጂ እኛ አይደለንም፤ በአለም አቀፍ ብድር ለተሰሩ ሰፋፊ መንገዶችና ከህዝብ በተዘረፈ ገንዘብ ለገነባችኋቸው ሰማይ ጠቀስ ፎቆች ስንል ባርነትን በጸጋ አንቀበልም! ኢትዮጵያ የሁላችን እንጂ ነፍጥ ያነገቡ የትግራይ ተወላጆች የግል ሃብት አይደለችም”፤ ወዘተ የሚል ነው።Patriotic Ginbot 7
የህወሃት አገዛዝ ለዚህ ፍትሃዊ የህዝብ ጥያቄ እየሰጠ ያለው ምላሽ ግን “ምን ታመጣለህ? ደርግን የመሰለ ዘመናዊ ጦር ያደራጀ ሃይል በነፍጥ አስወግጄ ሥልጣን የተቆጣጠርኩት አንተን ላነግስህ አይደለም፤ ወደድክም ጠላህ እኔው ነኝ እምገዛህ”! የሚል የእብሪት ተግባር ነው። የህወሃቱ ቁንጮ የነበረው መለስ ዜናዊ “በደም ተዋጅተን ያመጣነው ሥልጣን የሚመኝ ካለ እኛ በመጣንበት የአመጽ መንገድ ለመምጣት መንገዱን ጨርቅ ያድርግለት” በማለት እንደተዛባበተብን ምን ጊዜም አንዘነጋውም። ድህረ መለስ ዛሬ ሥልጣንን ከኋላ ሆነው እየዘወሩ ያሉት እነ ሳሞራ ይኑስ ፤ ጌታቸው አሰፋ፤ ሰበሃት ነጋ ፤ ደብረ ጽኦን ገብረ ሚካኤል ፤ አርከበ ዕቁባይ፤ አባይ ወልዱ፤ አባይ ጸሃይ ወዘተ በፖለቲካ እይታቸው ብቻ ሳይሆን በትዕቢትና በእብሪት ደረጃቸው ከመለስ ዜናዊ የሚለዩ አይደሉም። ታላቋ ኢትዮጵያ ለነርሱ የሥልጣንና የሃብት ዘረፋ ጥገት ላም መሆኗን ባቆመች ሰዓት መጥፋት ይኖርባታል። በእውናቸውም በህልማቸውም ከዚህ የተለየ ራዕያ ያላቸው ስለመሆናቸው ቢያንስ ያለፈው 26 ዓመት የሥልጣን ዘመናቸው ቆይታ አላረጋገጠም። አንድ አገር በደምና በሥጋ ያስተሳሰራቸውን ወንድማማች ህዝቦች በብሄርና በሃይማኖት በመከፋፈል የጠላትነት ግንብ በመካከላቸው ለመገንባት የተሰሠራው እና አሁንም በመሠራት ላይ ያለው የፖለቲካ ሥራ ይህንን እምነታቸውን የሚያጋልጥ ነው። በተለይ የሁለቱን ታላላቅ ብሄረሰብ አባላት በዘር ለመለያየት የተከደበት ረጂም ርቀትና የሁለቱን ታላላቅ ሃይማኖቶች ተከታዮች እርስ በርስ በጥርጣሬና በስጋት እንዲተያዩ ማሴር በኢትዮጵያ ምድር የበቀለ ወገን ቀርቶ ለራሱ አገር ሠላም የሚሻ ጎሬቤት አገሪ እንኳ በእውን ሊያስበው የሚችል ተግባር አይደለም።
እጅግ የሚገርመው በእንዲህ አይነት የለየለት ጠላትነት መንፈስ ውስጥም ሆኖ ህዝባዊ ወያኔ ሃሪነት ትግራይ ሥልጣን ከተቆጣጠረበት 1983 ጀምሮ የሚጠላትንና አገሬ ብሎ ለመጥራት የሚጸየፋትን አገር በጠመንጃ ሃይል እስከመጨረሻው ለመግዛት ያለውን ዕቅድ ለአፍታም ቢሆን ደብቆ አያውቅም። በዚህ ለዘመናት የመግዛት ዕቅዱ ውስጥ አሁን ሥልጣን ላይ ያለው ሃይል በእርጅናና በሞት ሲለይ ተተኪ የሚሆን ትውልድ “የኔ ነው” ከሚለውን የትግራይ ክልል ለማፍራት የአገሪቱን ሃብት በሙሉ በመጠቀም በእውቀትና በገንዘብ ሌሎች የአገሪቱ ተወላጆች ሊደርሱባቸው የማይችል ዜጎችን የመፍጠር ሥራ በትጋት እየተሰራ ነው። በዚህም የተነሳ ይህንን ዕቅድ ለማክሸፍ የሚንቀሳቀስ ሃይል እንዳይኖር ተቃውሞ ያነሳ ማኛውንም የአገሪቱ ዜጋ በሞት ሊቀጣ የሚችል በኢትዮጵያ ግብር ከፋይ ገንዘብ ደመወዝ የሚቆረጥለት አጋዚ የተባለ ጦር ከተቋቋመ ሰንብቶአል። በድህረ ምርጫ 97 ወቅት የገዛ ወገኑን አደባባይ ላይ በጠራራ ጸሃይ በመጨፍጨፍ አቅሙ እነ መለስ ዜናዊን አንጄት ቅቤ ያራሰው ይህ አጋዚ ጦር ያኔ የሰበቀውን የግዲያ ጎራዴ እስከዛሬ ድረስ ወደ አፎቱ አልመለሰም ። ከህዳር ወር 2008 ዓመተ ምህረት ወዲህ በኦሮሚያ ተጀምሮ ወደ አማራ ክልል የተዛመተውን ህዝባዊ ተቃውሞ ለማክሸፍ ግዳጅ የተሰጠው ታማኝነቱንና አለኝታነቱን ላረጋገጠው ለዚሁ አጋዚ ለተባለው ጦር ነው። ባለፈው አንድ አመት ብቻ አጋዚ በሁለቱ ክልሎች በሺዎች የሚቆጠሩ ወጣቶችን በጥይት ደብድቦ ገድሎአል። በብዙ ሺ የሚቆጠሩትን ደግሞ ወደ ተለያዩ እስር ቤቶች በማጓጓዝ አስሮአል፤ ገርፎአል፤ ለአካልና ለሂሊና ቁስል ዳርጎአቸዋል። በታሪካችን ተሰምቶ በማይታወቅ ጭካኔ ደምቢዶሎ ውስጥ ልጅ ገድሎ እናት የልጇ አስከሬን ላይ ቁጭ ብላ ግዲያውን እንድታወድስ ለማስገደድ ተችሎአል። ሰሞኑን የአንድነት ፓርቲ አመራር አባል የነበረው ወጣት ሃብታሙ አያለው እስር ቤት ውስጥ የተፈጸመበትን አሳዛኝ ሰቆቃ ለአሜሪካ ድምጽ ሬዲዮ ሲናገር ያልሰማ ሰው ትልቅ መረጃ አምልጦታል። “በወያኔ ዘመን ያልደረሰብን ንቀት፤ ውርደትና መከራ ምን አለ እና ነው መረጃ አመለጠ የሚያስብለ” ሊባል ይችል ይሆናል።
ሆኖም ግን ህወሃት ይህን ሁሉ መከራና ስቃይ የሚያፈራርቅብን፤ ተቃዋሚዎቹ በሆን ዜጎች ላይ በታሪካችን ሰምተን የማናውቀው አይነት ሰቆቃ የሚያደርስብን በባሪያ ፈንጋይ ዘመን ባሮች ከጎቶቻቸው እንዳያመልጡ እኔን አይተህ ተቀጣ በሚሉት አይነት የቅጣት ዘዴ አርፈው እንዲገዙ ለማሸማቀቅ የተጠቀሙትን ዜደ በኛ ላይ በመጠቀም በፍርሃት እጃችንን አጣምረን እንድንገዛ ለማድረግ ነው። ይህ ከቶ ሊሆን አይችልም ። እንኳን የሰው ልጅ መብት አለም አቀፋዊ ጥበቃ ባገኘበት የ21ኛው ክፍል ዘመን እየኖርን ቀርቶ በዚያ በጨለማው ዘመን ለነጻነታቸውና ለክብራቸው ሲሉ ተዋግተው በወቅቱ በአለም ሃያል የነበሩትን የአውሮጳ ቅኝ ገዢዎችን በሽንፈት የሸኙ የነ ቴዎድሮስ፤ ሚኒልክ፤ በላይ ዘለቀ ፤ አብዲሳ አጋ ፤ ሃብተ ጊዮርጊስ ዲነግዴና የእልፍ አዕላፍ ጄግኖች የታሪክ ወራሾች ብቻ ሳንሆን የነርሱ ወኔና ጀግንነት ዛሬም ድረስ በውስጣችን የሚቀጣጠል ነን።
አርበኞች ግንቦት 7 በጥጋብና እብሪት ተወጥሮ ህዝባችንን በማሰቃየት እስከ ወዲያኛው ለመግዛት የሚያስበውን የህወሃት አገዛዝ ለማስወገድና በምትኩ ፍትህ እኩልነትና ዲሞክራሲ የሰፈነበት ሥርዓት ለማስፈን ከህወሃት አገዛዝ ጋር የሞት ሽረት ትግል እያደረገ ያለ አገራዊ ድርጅት ነው።
ህወሃት በመላው አገራችን ውስጥ የተቀጣጠለውን ህዝባዊ ተቃውሞ ለማክሸፍ ያስችለኛል ብሎ ያመነበትንና አገሪቱን ሙሉ በሙሉ ወታደራዊ አገዛዝ ሥር ያስገባ የአስቸኳይ ጊዜ አዋጅ በማወጅ ካለፈው ጥቅምት ወር 2009 ጀምሮ በርካታ ግዲያዎችን እየፈጸመ ያለው ለነጻነታቸው ሲሉ የሚንቀሳቀሱትን ሁሉ በሽብርተኝነትና በጸረ ሠላም ሃይል እየፈረጀ መሆኑ በቀጥታም ሆነ በተዘዋዋሪ እንደ አርበኞች ግንቦት 7 አገራቸውንና ህዝባቸውን የሥልጣን ባለቤት ለማድረግ የተሰለፉትን ሃይሎች ለማዳከም ነው ብሎ ንቅናቄያችን ያምናል። ጉልበት ጉልበትን ፤ ግዲያ በቀልን እንደሚፈጥር ያልተረዳው የህወሃት አመራር 500ሺ ጦር ያለውን አምባገነን ሥርዓት ለመጣል የሄደበትንና የተጓዘበትን በማወደስ ከሚጠመድ የመሳሪያ ብዛትና የጦር ሠራዊት ጋጋታ በማያግደው የነጻነት ትግል ላለመበላት ወደ ሂሊናው ተመልሶ በሃይል የያዘውን ሥልጣን በክብር ለባለቤቱ ለሰፊው ህዝብ አሳልፎ ለመስጠት ቢያስብ የበለጠ ይጠቀምው ነበር።
ላለፈው 6 ወራት ሰላምና መረጋጋትን ያላመጣው የአስቸኳይ ጊዜ አዋጂ እንኳን ለ4 ወር ለ4 አመት ቢራዘም የአዋጁ መራዘም ሊያስከትል በሚችለው ጦስ እንደ አረጀ ዛፍ ውስጥ ውስጡን በምስጥ ተበልቶ እንደሚወድቅ አወዳደቁን ያበላሻል እንጂ የሚያድነው አይሆንም። የአፈና መጠናከር የገታው የነጻነት ጉዞ በታሪክ አልተመዘገበምና የወያኔ የአስቸኳይ ጊዜ አዋጅ መራዘም በምንም ምክንያት የወያኔን የሥልጣን ዕድሜ ለማራዘም እንደማይችል አርበኞች ግንቦት 7 ያስገነዝባል።
ኢትዮጵያ አገራችንን ለመታደግና የተዋረደውን ሰብዓዊ ክብራቸውን ለማስመለስ የሚንቀሳቀሱ ሁሉ እጅ ለእጅ ተያይዘን የህወሃትን አገዛዝ ፍጻሜ እናፋጥን።
ድል ለኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ!

Ethiopia: Largest Finnish Paper on TUT and Hailemariam Desalegn

Tampere University of Technology sought to honor Ethiopian tyrant with honorary degree – its opponents expect an apology

by Mikko Paakkanen* Helsingin Sanomat
The Tampere University of Technology (TUT) was about to honor the Ethiopian tyrant with honorary doctorate degree. This action by the university has caused offense and there is a feeling apology is in order.

The decision to confer on the Ethiopian prime minister honorary doctoral degree was made already a while ago, although the decision to rescind it is influenced by the political situation in the country.
Hailemariam Desalegn
The Tampere University of Technology was at a point literally to give the honor to Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, whose regime has been constantly accused of the crimes of human rights violations.
The President of the Tampere University of Technology Mika Hannula says the decision to award the prime minister was made at the end of last August. The university claims this was based on consideration of the significant merits in the development of water supply and the promotion of sustainable development.
Hailemariam Desalegn completed his education to obtain an MSc in Water Technology. He is remembered as a hard-working student, the Helsignin Sanomat was told nearly two years ago. [It is not indicated who told the paper this two years ago].
For several years, Finland has given Ethiopia development aid associated with water supply development.
The President of the University maintains that the TUT Academic Body reversed its August decision, because the prime minister could not be here. Accordingly, he says, “Last week, a representative of the prime minister indicated that he would withdraw. Acceptance of the withdrawal, according to Hannula, was accepted last Monday as part of the decision of the Academic Board not to award him the degree.
As it happens, Mika Hannula claims, while largely the political situation in Ethiopia/1 has influenced the Academic Board’s decision, Hailemariam’s inability to attend the ceremony at Tampere has also become factor in its cancellation. It is reported that in recent years the university has been closely following the situation in Ethiopia. 2/
“In particular, the proclamation of a state of emergency, of course, took the university to reconsider its position,” says Hannula.
The Ethiopian government declared a state of emergency last October, when the government followed the course of suppressing the mass protests in the country that has run for almost a year. During the state of emergency, The Guardian reported, mass arrests of at least 25,000 people.
Hailemariam Desalegn is a leader of the ruling EPRDF, which holds all the seats in parliament. The only representative of the opposition in parliament also lost his seat in the 2015 election. Consequently, the victory by the ruling party of one hundred percent of the election results has been attributed mainly to effective silencing of the opposition.
This situation in Ethiopia has been a preoccupation for many nations. For example, the US State Department last October expressed the concern that the state of emergency was empowering the ruling party to arrest without warrants, tighter restrictions on freedom of expression, as well as curfews and bans on freedom of assembly.3/
As far as the question of the honorary degree is concerned, President Hannula says, it does not get rescinded automatically when the recipient cannot make to the place of the ceremony.
“The practice varies on a case by case basis however,” he says.
Ethiopians living in Finland are displeased with the fact that the tyrant Hailemariam Desalegn was even considered to receive such an honor from the Tampere University of Technology.