Dawit W Giorgis
This message is prepared in consultation with members of the Executive Committee of OTAGE as a follow up to an earlier letter (attached below) sent to the UN Secretary General and the President of the UN Human Rights Council.
Despite our good faith efforts, the two organizations have turned deaf ears to our repeated requests for responses to our letters. We strongly believe that this unprofessional behavior needs to be publicized on all English media so that the international community gets an understanding of how biased these two organizations are. It is a dereliction of duty for these two organizations to refuse to hear the stories from the side that has been impacted more devastatingly than the one that they have been passionately covering. The death and destruction of the Amhara people continue unabated, as these two organizations refuse to dedicate a fraction of their vast resources to look into the requests sent on behalf of the victims of geocode and crimes against humanity.
Our requests to get the opportunity to share critical evidence and testimonies with the United Nations, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have not even been acknowledged. It is time to begin a vigorous campaign to spread the truth and demand actions from the international community and make it aware of the regional and global consequences of not doing so.
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Ms. Agnes Callamand, Secretary General of Amnesty International
Mr. Kenneth Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch
Subject: Request for an audience regarding the most consequential security challenge in the Horn of Africa.
I am sending this message on behalf of a registered organization named “Orthodox Christians Against Genocide in Ethiopia” headed by Archbishop Tewoflos. I am a member of this organization. I write to request a meeting with your two esteemed organizations to discuss and present evidence in relation to the looming human tragedy in Ethiopia.
The situation in Ethiopia, if allowed to continue, will be one of the most severe security challenges Africa has ever experienced. It will also have global consequences, the kind of challenges that will invite proxy wars, mercenaries, private armies, war lords,
human, arms and drug traffickers and above all violent extremism which is already behind some of the political organizations operating inside Ethiopia. Regrettably the media and the self-centered politicians prefer to deliberately avoid discussions on the deeper problems that face country, the region and the continent. The diverse stake holders are tall determined to make Ethiopia the scene of a bloody war from which they will profit either financially, politically, or strategically.
Some countries are intent to destabilize Ethiopia along religious lines and complicate the already complex ethnic fractures to promote their own interests. Because of this wanton conspiracy and the security challenge it is posing to the survival of every Ethiopian living within its borders, Ethiopia has now become the most armed country in Africa. The small arms traffickers have never been as busy as tons of armaments cross over the borders on a daily basis. The Islamic State (IS) has already declared its intentions publicly from the borders of Somalia. Such externally instigated ethnic and religious radicalization have left death and destructions to age old civilizations of tolerance amongst people belonging to diverse practices of religion, language and culture in many parts of Africa and the Middle East and North Africa (Libya, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Lebanon, Mali, Nigeria, Niger, Central African Republic, etc.)
Ethiopia was a country of Muslims and Christians long before the creation of countries like Saudi Arabia (1932), UAE (1971) which existed only for a few decades. Ethiopia was the first to host Islam outside Mecca and Medina, long before the entire Arabian Peninsula, and the first to host Christianity long before most of the Middle Eastern and all European countries. There is no place on earth where Muslims and Christians have lived in absolute harmony as in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is the cradle of these two great religions. It is the cradle of human existence. It is also the bastion of defiance of slavery and colonialism by Europe. Ethiopia has the inherent capacity to manage its own problems more than any other country in Africa. Ethiopia should be allowed and supported to resolve its current political crisis based on the wishes of its people and the changing global security and economic order and shifts of strategic alliances.
Amnesty international and Human Rights Watch have responsibilities not to put fuel on the raging fire in Ethiopia and end up not serving the people but betraying the trust bestowed upon them by the international community. They seem determined to take sides either through neglect of the suffering of all the people of Ethiopia or deliberate policy imposed upon them by their sponsors, donors, big powers, or lobbyists, making them passive parties to the conflict rather than being objective and unbiased investigators of human rights violations whoever and wherever the victims are.
Hostility among the various ethnic groups has reached its boiling point and like in the case of Rwanda the preparations for an all-out operation to exterminate the Amharas and Orthodox Christians and Amhara Muslims is underway. If they destroy the 2000-year-old Orthodox church and its followers it will pave the way for the Oromo violent extremists to try to take power further complicating the civil war. Despite the existence of various Oromo factions, they are all bound by a common goal of exterminating and weakening the Amharas and Orthodox Christians.
The civil war that has just began will have no end in sight and will push out millions out of the country creating a scenario much more complex than those seen during the Libyan and Syrian war. The neighboring nations of Kenya, Eritrea, Sudan, and Somalia will be victims of the war and the Gulf of Aden and he Red Sea will be in serious danger forcing Saudi Arabia, Iran and the super powers to act in their own interest. Egypt will take actions to ensure unhindered flow of the Nile. Sudan with all its problems will join the position of Egypt and Al Shabab will resurrect both in Eastern Ethiopia and Kenya.
We believe it would be to the best interest of the world to ensure that there is stability in Ethiopia whatever it might cost. The Horn of Africa is the most complex security zone in the world as confirmed by the presence of more than six foreign military bases in Djibouti alone. It is the thorough understanding of this complex picture and the motives of those behind it, that may prevent the catastrophe that may follow.
We also believe Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have responsibility to warn the world of the expected human cost and the unfolding of unprecedented humanitarian crisis graver than the one in Ukraine that the world seems to be obsessed about today.
The role of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch is to discover the truth and dig deeper to understand where this evil is coming from. The UN Human Rights Council has arguably failed because there is lack of meaningful criterion that member states must meet to have a seat in the council. Even countries with deplorable records can run and win seats on the UNs premier human rights body. As reported by Freedom House in 2018 “some of the states are leading authoritarian regimes that have set out to eviscerate pollical opposition and crush all dissent at home while subverting democracy beyond their borders.” The HRC has not made much of a difference in preventing global human rights violations. The world has more faith in such organizations like yours who are independent and free from political pressures.
Your most recent report makes Amharas the perpetrators rather than victims. Professor Girma Berhanu, from the University of Gothenburg in his most recent article (April 14) on ‘eurasiaview’, extensively discusses this under the title of “Victims and Victimization in Ethiopian Politics”. We advise that it be read for a better understanding of your reverse interpretation of the conflict in Ethiopia. The world expects from you the truth without being selective. Hundreds of thousands of Amharas have either been killed, displaced, and tortured in the most inhuman manner that has shocked those of us who have the documents and evidence. You preferred not to include the more horrendous crimes that has been committed in Metekel, Welega, Ataye, Shashemene, and many other places where genocide and crimes against humanity are taking place.
It is our wish to inform you the untold stories about the conflict in Ethiopia; to explain to you what is beneath the surface and present to you evidence of the genocide, the crimes against humanity and other crimes that are taking place right Infront of the eyes of hundreds of people and yet not been reported by you and the mainstream media.
The Amharas are between a rock and a hard surface perceived as enemies by both the Tigray Liberation Front (TPLF) and Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). The war against the Amharas is fueled by a distortion or fabrication of history that emerged only in the last 40 years since the TPLF took power. When the TPLF was in power, Melels Zenawi, who was then the PM publicly and shamelessly stated that the Orthodox Church and the Amharas are prime enemies and tried in a different way to annihilate and or marginalize them. Subsequently, the current PM minister has continued the campaign to exterminate the Amharas, particularly those living in the Oromia region. Hundreds have been literally slaughtered like animals, pregnant women have been raped and butchered, Amahra men’s organs being displaced as trophies, human beings (Amharas) being burnt alive with cheering crowds, mothers raped Infront of husbands and children, churches burnt, and thousands told to leave some areas claimed by either the OLF or the TPLF and many more. We have compiled the evidence and are prepared to submit to you.
As we write this letter to you the war drums against Amharas are being heard from the Oromo region to bring a ‘final solution’ which will affirm the supremacy of the Oromo extremists in Ethiopia.
As we said above the Amharas will not relent and will certainly fight back. The TPLF will fight to maintain the land it grabbed and seek to get a corridor to Sudan so it would be able to secede or easily bring in armaments from outside through Port Sudan and other places. These complex efforts will bring about the result which we mentioned in the first paragraph of this letter to you.
I was in Rwanda immediately after the genocide to assist in the reconstruction of the country. I have written a lot about this experience. Like in Rwanda the early warning is palpable in Ethiopia. For the Amharas it is ‘forewarned is forearmed’ and they are preparing.
Considering your responsibilities to know the truth we want you to spare sometime for us so we would explain in more detail this disturbing phenomenon. We feel that you have also an obligation to listen to us, like you listened to the many ‘witnesses’ in Ethiopia. You can then make your own investigation. Non can be the winners in a full-fledged civil war that is bound to happen. With no action on your side, Ethiopians will lose their country, the UN will lose its credibility and the UN, and your organizations will be considered in “Complicity with Evil”.
I, two professors from esteemed universities here in the USA, two analysts and activists are prepared to see you anywhere in the world at your earliest convenience.
I have attached the most recent letter written to HE Ambassador Federico Villegas, the President of the Human Rights Council.
Thank you: Dawit W Giorgis
Legal Expert
giorgisdawit@gmail.com
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Please advise the group to send the evidence they have to:
The international Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia: ohchr-ichreethiopia@un.org
I wish some people stop using incendiary phrases like ‘ Oromo violent extremists’. There are no Oromo extremists but extremist individuals who happened to have Oromo parents. Are there Amhara fascists? No! There could be ruthless bigots who were born to Amhara parents but they should not be called ‘Amhara Fascists’. First of all the old country does not have the economic foundation to spun groups with fascistic agenda. It does not have the industrial wherewithal to germinate, nurture and raise fascists. Such enraging phrases will only make the effort of those of us who toil to maintain the centuries old bridge between these two noble people unnecessarily difficult. Please, please, for heaven’s sake quit using such pejorative terms. Just stifle!!! Btw, I just took a pick at the last count of Christians of Christians in Oromia close 65% of them are followers the Orthodox version. That in the atrocities carried out in Oromia against Orthodox Christians there must be Oromo victims also. During the 2019 carnage when someone cried ‘policemen are here to kill me’ at 02:00AM there were several Oromos who were hacked to death among innocent Amharas, Sidamas, Gurages and several other groups of people. The Oromos were murdered either they were trying to protect their Amhara or other neighbors or they were just Christians. One Allah Blessed human life is just as sacred and priceless as any other.
As a political ideology or thinking fascism like Marxism has its proponents in poor countries like Ethiopia. For example the political program of the TPLF demonizes and singles out a single Ethiopian community as the main enemies of the Tigrayans it claims to stand for. In addition, the late leader of the TPLF Meles Zenawi openly bragged and described the Tigrayans as the golden people. These are just a couple of examples which give the basis for categorizing the TPLF as a fascist organization.
It is very worrisome to now as it was when I noticed that pathogen called Marxism/Leninism start appearing and infecting the brightest among the youth that country produced. I could see it then and I can see it now. It all manifests itself with its tinkering with non-negotiable violence against others. First comes demonizing others as groups followed by declaration of war. You think ‘down this or that’ is new but it was a common battle cry way back then. You better not even murmur let alone squawk a word about ‘reforms’. You would be shot down and talk down as if you are some kind of plank, nincompoop, and door knob all in one. Violent revolution is the only way out and to a society that would be classless with milk and honey flowing like raging flood. What the heck in that classless society nobody needs to work!!! That was the conclusion I had arrived after listening to them. My take was why do you have to work if you live in a classless society where milk and honey flows like the furious Nile? There is no class to move up to. That was what those young and bright young people were spoon fed with by sinister professors and commie operatives. I was not surprised by the late PM’s designation of those innocent, upright and noble people from Tigray as golden race. That put my noble Oromos and equally noble Amharas along with the rest of the people there are made from some kind rusty ingredients. That means whoever created us had committed a serious crime of malfeasance. We rust and he shines as a golden race dazzling your and my eyes!!! His cadres were telling me that their golden race people were the ones who single handedly liberated the rest of the people of that country from demonic Mengistu. The influence of that satanic philosophy(if you can call it philosophy) of Marxism/Leninism is still wreaking havoc in that country. Look at the political groups over there. Every one of them will not hesitate to tell you and me that it and only it is the one that has the solution for the ills the country faces. You better not suggest the arts of compromise and accommodation. That is why we see the opposition splintered into hapless miniature outfits. They look good though as some display collectibles. When you accuse the sitting government of suppressive political persecution its spokespersons would ask you as to where you have been? ‘Can’t you see the more than 100 opposition parties and groups? Are you blind?’ That will rush you and me back to our seats. I have been saying this for quite some time no and I’m serious about it. Unless those well-read among us who have not been infected with that destructive disease come together and start teaching the youth about the fallacies of that philosophy it will continue to be around for decades to come. It has done enough damage already.
It is very worrisome to now as it was when I noticed that pathogen called Marxism/Leninism start appearing and infecting the brightest among the youth that country produced. I could see it then and I can see it now. It all manifests itself with its tinkering with non-negotiable violence against others. First comes demonizing others as groups followed by declaration of war. You think ‘down this or that’ is new but it was a common battle cry way back then. You better not even murmur let alone squawk a word about ‘reforms’. You would be shot down and talk down as if you are some kind of plank, nincompoop, and door knob all in one. Violent revolution is the only way out and to a society that would be classless with milk and honey flowing like raging flood. What the heck in that classless society nobody needs to work!!! That was the conclusion I had arrived after listening to them. My take was why do you have to work if you live in a classless society where milk and honey flows like the furious Nile? There is no class to move up to. That was what those young and bright young people were spoon fed with by sinister professors and commie operatives. I was not surprised by the late PM’s designation of those innocent, upright and noble people from Tigray as golden race. That put my noble Oromos and equally noble Amharas along with the rest of the people there are made from some kind rusty ingredients. That means whoever created us had committed a serious crime of malfeasance. We rust and he shines as a golden race dazzling your and my eyes!!! His cadres were telling me that their golden race people were the ones who single handedly liberated the rest of the people of that country from demonic Mengistu. The influence of that satanic philosophy(if you can call it philosophy) of Marxism/Leninism is still wreaking havoc in that country. Look at the political groups over there. Every one of them will not hesitate to tell you and me that it and only it is the one that has the solution for the ills the country faces. You better not suggest the arts of compromise and accommodation. That is why we see the opposition splintered into hapless miniature outfits. They look good though as some display collectibles. When you accuse the sitting government of suppressive political persecution its spokespersons would ask you as to where you have been? ‘Can’t you see the more than 100 opposition parties and groups? Are you blind?’ That will rush you and me back to our seats. I have been saying this for quite some time no and I’m serious about it. Unless those well-read among us who have not been infected with that destructive disease come together and start teaching the youth about the fallacies of that philosophy it will continue to be around for decades to come. It has done enough damage already.
Many thanks for your educational and insightful commentary. I usually read them and enrich my understanding.
Some years ago I raised this repugnant issue of `the golden people` with a couple of my acquaintances from Tigray. They argued and defended it as one of the facts or truths many elites in Ethiopia do not want to accept. I was upset by their reasoning and arguments but learned that this ideology of fascism (feeling of superiority or the master ethnic group) has permeated the elites from Tigray. Months ago. the same persons told me that the present conflict is between what they call `between the donkeys and golden people` and the latter will win the war and assert their superiority once more. As to my understanding Marxism or Communism though repressive speaks about equality and free of racism. The fascistic politics I realized from the TPLF/Tigray elites advances superiority, not equality.
It is an ailment that ravages those with sick minds. Modern racist extremism was ‘intellectually’ embellished since the onset of Marxist socialism. Marx had written a book called ‘On the Jewish Question’ a classic well theorized Anti-Semitism. Both Hitler’s and Mussolini’s parties had origins in hard-line socialist groups. Once they see/regard you an enemy you are dead. They tell you and me they struggle for equality but you have to be ‘a revolutionary proletariat’ to have that equality. What was Stalin having on his dinner table every night while more than 25 million peasants were blockaded and left to die of starvation? He was having choice fillet mignon and bottles of well stilled vodkas. What was Mao having every night on his lavish dinner table while more than 25 million Chinese citizens were dying from lack of food from calamities he created and coined ‘The Great Leap Forward’ and ‘Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom’? He was having a well roasted duck drizzled with the best sauce known in Chinese cuisine. He then washed it down with best khamr around. He was one fat ruthless pig. Even in our time some of the worst racists were once extremist Marxist/Leninists. I am not sure if you know about the Baader–Meinhof Gang from the former West Germany back in the 1970’s? Well, one of their leaders, Horst Mahler, is now the leader of a Neo-Nazi group who wants to send you and me to the gas chambers. That is what happens when the modus operandi is overthrow and liquidate instead of compromise and accommodate. No power sharing but it will be all ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’. Am sorry, the dictatorship of the working class! This infectious disease is not like Covid. Covid has killed millions in the richest countries of the world but not as many in the poorest nations. But that satanic philosophy has infected and killed millions in the poorest nations of the world. That is because it was designed to feed on the raw emotions of the wretched majority. The hapless youth would be told ‘it has nothing to lose’. ‘You are as good as dead man walking now and so why not die trying?’ When victory is achieved the youth will be told it is ‘democratic centralism’. Our guys had it as ‘developmental democracy’. The economy was ‘developmental’! Everything was ‘developmental’. There were ‘developmental’ laloye’s, zeraafs and gerersaas. Even throwing dissidents into filthy jails was made to sound ‘developmental’. Making dissidents disappear in thin air was ‘developmental’. I tell you Mao would be pissed to see our guys outdoing him!!!
Thank you for remaining civil in our conversation. That is our centuries-old and legendary tradition.
Peace to you and your family.
Stay safe.
Ittu Aba Farda, why don’t you tell Abiy and his PP hooligans to use their brains, if they have any. Oromo extremists are abound in Ethiopia. They are products of 60 to 70 years of mass indoctrination by frauds, political opportunists, Marxist Leninist wannabes and on and on. There is no region called Oromia in Ethiopia. It is a political figment, created out if thin air and hot TPLF windbags to facilitate the ethnic subdividing and partitioning of Ethiopia, table d’hôte, from the fascist Italian menu of Mussolini era. Lest you forget, be reminded that the murderous butcher Mengistu Hailemariam, from his own words of mouth, came from an Oromo mother and a father from Southern Ethiopia. His inferiority complex single handedly had deprived Ethiopia of such talents like PM Aklilu Habtewold, a dedicated public servant who served his nation and people tirelessly for nearly 45 years, the irreplaceable Ethiopian diplomat and young talent PM Endalkachew Mekonnen and various extra ordinary figures of the era. The advisors to Mengistu then were such men as Senaye Likke and Haile Fida. Please examine the misguided intentions of the current “Oromumma” advocates and fanatics, including Abiy, chairperson of PP, the likes of Jawar Mohammed, Shimeles Abdissa, Adanech Abebe, Bekele Gerba, Lemma Megerssa, Ezkiel Gabissa, Merara Gudinna and on, and on, and on.
Ethiopians did not fight TPLF for 3 decades only to be now repressed, murdered and massacred new TPLFite disciples who changed only their names to PP and continue with the old wicked ways of their masters and mentors. We challenge you to be intellectually honest, ethically upright and morally incorruptible. An Ethiopia, that respects the rights of the Individual Ethiopian, regardless of ethnicity, gender, place of birth, and an Ethiopia that guarantees the rights of the Individual Ethiopian, as an Individual Ethiopian citizen to rights, liberty and the pursuit of happiness will be the only Ethiopia where peace will reign.
To my understanding of a well documented history the late Emperor Haile was also an Oromo on his father’s side. How about o his mother’s side? His wife and the mother of his children was the granddaughter Mika-eel(Mohammed Ali), chief of the Barentu Oromos. Also one of my greatest heroes at the Battle of Adwa, Tekle of Gojjaam, who was his great-great grandfather? Does the name Wolde Habib bin Ibid ring bell? For all I know he was not a Filipino. He was not an Amhara or Tigre either!!! It was also reported by our own historians that Menelik’s father had sought refuge among Oromos when he was besieged and chased by the rampaging ruthless Theodore. His father died while hiding among Oromos. Fast forward to Menelik’s escape from Theodore’s prison where did he go to seek an asylum? The queen of Oromos in Wello, right? Fast forward again to young Menelik’s return to his birth place after the Oromo queen in Wello bid him farewell with formidable convoy and she paid dearly for that after the mad man Theodore threw her beloved young son over the ravine to his death. Who do you think gave him a warm and uplifting welcome? It was that Gobanaa. At the time Menelik was a simple and hapless fugitive but a powerful Oromo with raging ‘Oromumma ‘ coupled with equally raging national fervor gave him all he needed to stand up on his feet. You see, those level head ancestors had left behind a well connected social fabric which we are trying to sully it up. It gives me heartache. We need to read our history written by our own over qualified historians like Obbo Bahru bin Zewde and others and read them with undivided attention. To be honest with you I don’t know why you brought up the names of the individuals mentioned in your comment. If you have read my countless comments on this and other websites you should have known by now that they have their opinion and I have my own. Please don’t mention Mengistu as Oromo. It will be undeserved badge of honor for that blood sucking beast. Don’t forget the fact that he did not commit all that horrific crime against humanity all alone. There were equally beasts of prey Amharas and Tigres who planned and carried out the massacres. Locally there were individuals from other groups of people who carried his cruel orders through to the letter. The victims were from all ethnic groups and were not only Amharas. One of their victims was my own cousin who was just about 16 years old. I was about to travel to a neighboring country to facilitate his escape and bring him here. He refused to join Mengistu’s groups and they took him one night and was never heard from again. He was denied a dignified burial. His mother died several years later still wailing for beloved boy. Was his Allah Blessed life less worthy than the others because he was an Oromo victim? To this day we don’t know where they tossed his bullet riddled body. By mentioning Mengistu’s Oromo heritage what are you trying to postulate here? Just don’t do it!!!
The cruel like colonel Mengistu Hailemariam and the late fascist Meles Zenawi are anomalies and should not be associated with or claimed by any Ethiopian societies.
You got it!!! End of story! Full stop!!!!