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By Yonas Biru, PhD
Last updated on January 16, 2023 At 11:00 P.M. Toronto Time
PREFACE
In the past, I have written well over 100 articles. If I were asked to rate them in the order of their importance in avoiding catastrophe and/or finding solutions, I would say this article would be among the top five. One was co-authored with Professor Lemma Wolde Senbet (LWS) with input from Professor Alemayehu Geda and Berhanu Abegaz. At the risk of coming across as self-serving, I can say unequivocally that had the PM encouraged public debate and considered expert advice Ethiopia would not be where it is today. I hope the PM will consider the key issues raised in this article. The other four proposals that could have helped the PM are:
- September 2018: Proposal to Establish an Independent Economic Advisory Council (Co- authored with Professor LWS). The proposal stressed: “While tackling its pressing challenges, Ethiopia must find ways to formulate an economic vision fueled by a higher dream.” Though the PM established a Economic Council in December 2020, it proved to be a window dressing.
- April 2019: An open letter to the Prime Minister (PM) titled “Ethiopia is in Need of Midcourse Correction.” The letter highlighted three specific areas that required the PM’s attention as priorities of first importance. Two days later, I got an email from the PM’s office to tell me that they will implement them. As it turned out, it was a curtesy acknowledgment. Had the PM paid heed, his vision could have produced fruit.
- November 2020: A Proposal for a peaceful settlement of the TPLF war. A week before the Ethiopian National Defense Forces entered Mekele on November 28, 2020, I raised serious concern that entering Mekele would be a colossal mistake. At the time, TPLF’s firepower (tanks, rockets, and other heavy weapons) were largely destroyed. Entering Mekele was an unnecessary overkill that led the people of Tigray to support TPLF and turn the law-and-order campaign into a civil war. The Ethiopian National Defense Forces along with Eritrean and Amhara forces was chased out of Tigray, leaving behind over 10,000 military personnel as prisoners of war and enormous amount of heavy and light military arsenal, including tanks. The colossal mistake led to the loss of $28 billion and over 600,000 lives.
- June 2021 and November 2021: Four Point Proposal, including:
- Stop the war, remove the terrorist designation, and negotiate with the TPLF
- Limit the disarmament to heavy weapons,
- Establish a transitional government in Tigray
- Allow TPLF to continue as a political party and let the people of Tigray decide its fate
The government ended up reaching similar agreements under international pressure after the nation lost 100s of thousands in lives and billions in national treasure.
The Accidental Rise and the Foreseeable Fall of Abiy Ahmed in the Land of Two Shenes
- Executive Summary
Ethiopia has never been in danger as it is today. The last two years have borne witness that Prime Minister (PM) Abiy Ahmed lacks the requisite experience to govern a nation embroiled in crisis. People focus on the political turmoil, but what poses a far more existential threat is the economy whose fundamentals are inching toward a tipping-point of implosion. The PM is too enamored with his self-prophesized mission as the redeemer of Ethiopia to acknowledge failure. His narcissistic leadership denies him the humility to learn from his mistakes and seek advice and counsel from people of experience, and subject matter expertise.
The PM’s manifesto may champion the principles of መደመር (synergy), but his governance calculus is a reductive operation. People of moderate political persuasion who constituted his support base have changed their affiliation from ተደምረናል to ተቀንሰናል. Even those who still support him feel trapped with him for lack of an alternative.
In the meantime, a plethora of Oromo and Amhara extremist forces are proliferating like a weed. Thank God that the third one in the Tigray tribal land has reduced itself from አውራ ብሄር to አጋር ብሄር with surgical precision. One thing that has come clear to Tigrayan tribalists is that the current system does not serve the interests of small tribal homelands. TPLF’s former opinion leaders are now calling for a “comprehensive constitutional reform” because the Constitution’s “reliance on ethnicity as its singular organizing principle has failed.”
Even at his weakest, the PM has outmaneuvered and outlasted TPLF and Team Jawar both of whom are out looking in with a hope that Caerus, the Greek god of luck, may open a window of opportunity for them. The two most dangerous extremist groups of current relevance are Oromo-Shene and Amhara-Shene. Their threat to the survival of Ethiopia is heightened by the Oromo shadow government that is run by a fifth column faction within the PP-Oromo leadership.
The PM’s dysfunctional bureaucracy adds a new dimension to the tribe-infested political crisis. His cabinet is at best sub-mediocre, or at worst terrible. The story of current day Ethiopia is the story of an oblivious prime minister juggling economic hot potatoes, standing on a political sand dune that is slipping away under his feet.
In 2018 and 2019, the PM rattled impressive and transformative reforms, showcasing his vision and strategy and winning accolades from all corners of the world. In 2020, he allowed TPLF and Team Jawar to frame the political agenda and control the narrative. Ignoring warnings from every direction (including from me), the PM refused to counter the negative propaganda with “የነሱ ፕሮፖጋንዳ አቧራ እንጂ አሻራ አይሆንም” belief. To his surprise, TPLF and Team Jawar turned the አቧራ into a global PR tsunami.
In 2022, his failed administration was in full display as he filled the airwaves with complaints, accusing everyone around him but himself for the crisis that happened on his watch.
In some circles, the chatter about a post-Abiy government is getting louder. This is a foreseeable scenario unless the PM reflects on his failure, seeks advice and council from capable bodies to reassess the state of the nation and reset his administration.
Given the deepening crisis, resetting his government is not going to be an easy endeavor. Currently, the Oromo political space is engulfed with a three-way power struggle between the PM, Shene- Oromo, and the Oromo Shadow government. Ethiopia’s future depends on which of the three comes out on top.
There is also the Amhara-Oromo conflict that is increasingly inching toward a point of no return. The conflict has many dimensions, including the PM vs. PP-Amhara, PP-Oromo vs. PP-Amhara and Oromo-Shene v. Amhara-Shene.
Unfortunately, what has dominated the national political narrative is the conflict between Oromo- Shene and Amhara-Shene. The two malignant forces tactfully process their war against each other through the pro- and anti-Abiy political algorithm to produce high-voltage power. As a result, they are successfully using the PM as the transmission line and converter station to escalate their tribal animosity into a national conflict. Ethiopia’s challenge is how to short-circuit this process.
Four questions serve as windows to survey the complex political landscape and explore possible solutions. Who is the boss in the Oromo political landscape? What is the strategic end-goal of Shene- Amhara? Can Amhara silent majority crowd out Amhara-Shene and short-circuit the Oromo-Shene and Amhara-Shene crisis transmission line? What role can the international community play to avert the impending collapse of the Abiy administration and set the nation on the path to recovery?
The purpose of this article is to shed light on the dark souls and the blind spots of Ethiopian politics and recommend a way out.
II. The Anatomy of PM Abiy’s Leadership: From Hope to Despair
PM Abiy was neither the architect nor the leader of the movement that toppled the TPLF-led government. He was swept into office by forces of circumstances on the back of a national protest triggered by restive youths of Oromo and Amhara and coordinated by the Oromo-Amhara Coalition led by Lemma Megerssa and Gedu Andargachew.
Indistinct of his accidental rise to power, his vision and astute strategy helped him win the hearts and minds of Ethiopians and foreign powers alike. His reform agenda became the hope of the nation for peace and prosperity and won him global accolades for “saving the country from civil war” and for his reform’s potential to “ignite economic change across Africa.”
He knew the path to the Nobel Peace Prize was through Eritrea. It was the path he traveled to win international fame and repute and harvest the coveted Nobel Peace Prize. The US and Europe poured in unprecedented billions into Ethiopia’s economy to help finance his economic vision. Things went well until he faced his first political crisis in November 2020. Soon after the crisis, his fault lines and handicaps surfaced with blinking colors and loud sirens.
The first major crisis triggered by the TPLF war showed the PM has neither the requisite experience nor the temperament to be a statesman. There is no question that the war was instigated and sparked by TPLF. There is no question also that the PM had Constitutional duty and obligation to launch the law-and-order campaign. However, the PM cannot escape responsibility (at least in part) in turning the law-and-order campaign into a full-blown civil war.
The PM’s first and most consequential mistake was entering Mekele on November 28, 2020. There was no long-term economic or political gain. Before federal forces captured Mekele, TPLF’s fire power (tanks, rockets, and other heavy weapons) were largely destroyed. Entering Mekele was an unnecessary overkill that led the people of Tigray to support TPLF and turn the law-and-order campaign into a civil war. The Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) along with Eritrean and Amhara forces was chased out of Tigray, leaving behind over 10,000 military personnel as prisoners of war and enormous amount of heavy and light military arsenal, including tanks.
II.1. The PM’s Autocratic and Narcissistic Fault Lines
Democratic nations who are ruled by law have three branches of government – legislative, executive, and judicial. The Ethiopian Constitution provides for only two branches: legislative and executive. To top it off, the PM has disenfranchised the legislative branch. In so doing he has reduced the nation to a one branch government. He rules the nation with the aura and presumptions of an absolute monarch. አለቃ, as his subordinates call him, decides on everything large and small. The Kim Jong Un-ization of Ethiopia is under construction. See my earlier articles titled: የጠቅላይ ሚኒስቴሩ እንደ ስላሴዎች አንድም ሶስተም እየሆኑ የመምጣት አደጋዎች and Abiyonomics: The Off-Budget Seduction of the Economy and the Constitution.
The fact that the PM is increasingly becoming an autocrat is not so much an inevitable source of his failure. There are many autocrats who have led their nations to stability and prosperity, at least as far as their economies go, leaving their human rights abuse records aside. China under Deng Xiaoping, Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew, Korea under Park Chung-hee, Chile under Augusto Pinochet and Rwanda under Paul Kagame serve as emblems of autocratic success.
These leaders had one thing in common. They sought supremely qualified subject matter experts from home and the diaspora and brought them to bear in their nations’ development endeavors. The story of the Chicago boys in Chile is an example. Similarly, Chung-hee headhunted top Korea economists from around the world and brought them home to help him chart his nation’s economic plan. In Singapore, Yew sought and recruited the best and brightest and appointed them to top cabinet level, encouraged debate within his bureaucracy, and paid heed to the opinions of experts in and outside of his administration to govern his nation.
In China, Xiaoping relied on intellectual deliberative processes. He nurtured the so-called epistemic community, consisting of a network of professionals who helped shape China’s economic and geopolitical policy debates. In Rwanda, Kagame sought out talent and educated Rwandese from abroad. Four things standout about his leadership: meritocracy, strategy, expert input, and communication. He meets with his Presidential Advisory Council twice a year in April and September. He has done so without fail since 2007.
PM Abiy is the antithesis of such crops of leaders. His I-know-it-all attitude and predisposition toward “yes-men” subordinates have denied the nation a competent leadership team. Where other leaders headhunt and attract best talent from home and abroad to fill key positions, the PM appoints his young admirers as if he is building a fan club. Some of the key people in his management team appear internship apprentice. See my articles titled PM’s Vision Is Like a Ferrari Driven by a Volkswagen Engine (October 2019).
His executive handicap is rooted in his narcissistic and anti-intellectual tendencies. The following ten points are often used as common traits of narcissistic politicians that the PM abundantly exhibits.
- They have vision and can see the big picture.
- They have a great yearning to leave behind a larger-than-life legacy.
- They are charismatic and know how to charm people.
- They have loyalty to only themselves.
- They have unquenchable desire to be admired and surround themselves with “yes men,”
- They are unable to take criticism of any sort
- They never hold themselves accountable; it is always other peoples’ fault.
- Their self-centered know-it-all attitude prohibits them from seeking advice and counsel.
- They exist above the rule of law; in their mind rules don’t apply to them.
- They show utter disregard for the truth and live in an alternative reality
These are the very characteristics that have undermined the PM’s vision from reaching fruition. The economic and political consequences are profound and inching toward existential crisis.
III. The Economy: Nearing Code Blue Emergency
Code blue is a medical term that hospitals use when there is a patient who is in cardiac arrest and needs immediate emergency medical attention. When code blue is announced, doctors and nurses drop everything and rush to the room where the patient is housed. Signals are abuzz that Ethiopia’s economy is nearing code blue emergency. Despite a deepening economic crisis, the PM continues to make decisions without advice and council from subject matter experts.
Although the PM has an Independent Economic Advisory Council (established in December 2020) and an Independent Committee for Privatization of government owned corporations (established in 2018), he has not met with them even once. Nor has he asked them to provide him with written advice and guidance.
In a futile effort to cover the economic crisis, the PM uses drums up or even deceptively manipulated data. For example, the four key macroeconomic performance indicators include GDP (often used as the primary indicator), inflation, unemployment, and interest rate. In a recent session at the Ethiopian Parliament, the PM painted a rosy picture of a phenomenal increase in GDP per capita citing the World Bank as a source. He suggested Ethiopia’s GDP per capita has increased from $1000 to $1200 – a 20 percent jump in one year. He attributed the jump to his successful economic policy.
No country has ever registered a 20 percent year-to-year growth. The figures the PM used are nominal figures (without accounting for inflation). The 20 percent jump in nominal GDP per capita reflects the nation’s runaway inflation not its real growth. It is possible to see a sharp increase in nominal GDP when the real GDP is sinking into the abyss.
The PM was either deliberately painting a rosy picture to deceive the people or his macroeconomic team is afraid to tell him that nominal GDP figures are never used to determine economic growth. Either way the situation is worrisome. The PM’s shenanigan is not a one-off incident.
In August 2022, the Ethiopian News Agency quoted the PM as having tweeted: “Our macroeconomic committee meeting today has confirmed the remarkable export performance this past year — better FDI flow, decrease in inflation in the past two months, optimal green legacy, volunteer activities, remittance and automation performance.” This is a willful deception. Most of the indicators he mentioned are not high in the totem pole of core macroeconomic indicators.
Let us unpack his statement. The export increase can be characterized as notable, if judged in isolation. In August 2022 Ethiopia was expecting its export income to surpass $5 Billion, owing to price increases in gold and coffee. Indeed, this was a notable jump from the $3.6 billion export income in 2021. But the increase was driven by increase in the prices of coffee and gold. It has little to nothing to do with the PM’s economic policy.
More importantly, from macroeconomic perspective export income alone does not tell us much unless it is balanced with the nation’s import expenditure. During the same period, Ethiopia’s import jumped from $14.2 billion to $18.1 billion. This means that Ethiopia’s trade deficit worsened in 2022. There is nothing remarkable in this from a macroeconomic perspective.
Further, the increase in FDI was $68.5 million is nothing to write home about in the grand scheme of Ethiopia’s $112 billion GDP. To put the $68.5 million in perspective, the latest Kenya’s FDI figure in public domain shows a $463.4 million increase. The corresponding figure for Rwanda, a much smaller country, was $211.9 million.
The increase in remittance was relatively more significant at $600 million, but it has nothing to do with the government’s economic policy. What it shows is that people sent more money to help their families cope with the deteriorating economy and ballooning inflation. I am not sure what to make of the PM’s inclusion of “volunteer activities” and “automation performance” as part of his macroeconomic performance report.
An important macroeconomic indicator he noted is inflation. Ethiopia’s inflation stands amongst the worst 10 inflationary countries. The out-of-control general price increases are attributable to a cascading policy missteps, chief among them are the war and currency devaluation. Sadly, rather than coming clean with the people, the PM downplays the problem, suggesting it is a global problem caused by the Covid pandemic and supply chain disruptions.
Yes, these two factors explain the worsening of the global inflation scenario, but they do not tell us why Ethiopia’s inflation is 580 percent higher than the average for Sub Saharan Africa and 770 percent higher than the average for the world at large. Though Ethiopia’s month-to-month inflation has dropped a bit, the drop was too small to be highlighted in the PM’s official statement as a macroeconomic success.
Further, in recent days, we hear about Ethiopia becoming wheat exporter. Last year Ethiopia’s wheat production was 5.7 million metric ton. The government’s projection is 10 million metric ton for 2022/2023. This will improve Ethiopia’s ranking in wheat production from 24th in the world to 16th, overpassing such nations as Brazil, Egypt, and the UK. If true, this will be nothing short of a miracle.
But considering the government’s tendency to rosy up and embellish economic data, one cannot be certain if the projection is not a politically seduced headline. Further, a country cannot characterize itself as “a wheat exporter” with a one-year expected increase of wheat production. The rule of thumb is a five-year sustained record before one can declare a country as an exporter of any product.
What the government does not tell us is the fact that since PM Abiy took office, Ethiopia’s cereal and other food imports have increased from 1.16 billion dollars in 2018/2019 to 3.61 billion dollars in 2021/2022, representing a 312 percent jump. During the same period, Ethiopia’s international food aid has skyrocketed from $142.5 million to $1.17 billion, registering 821 percent jump.
We have become the world’s pauper with as many as 20 percent of our population fed by international charity. The Fact that Mayor Adanech Abebe spends two billion birr to feed the hungry in Addis may be a political bonanza for the PP-led administration, but it is a warning bell for an impending economic earthquake.
As the PM peddles claims about the resilience of the economy and its remarkably rebounding capacity, international institutions are ringing a siren of an economy under stress. The Hong Kong- based Fitch Rating has consistently downgraded Ethiopia’s credit ratings on its ability to meet its financial obligations. Ethiopia rating history shows: November 2018 (B+) October 2019 (B-), June 2020 (CCC), February 2021 (CCC) and December 2022 (CCC-).
The state of the economy is on the cusp of crisis. The danger cannot be overemphasized. Every Ethiopian in and outside of Ethiopia must demand immediate action to take stock of the state of the economy and to assemble a team of reputable economists to chart a path out of the crisis.
IV. The Politics in Turmoil: Another Siren for a Code Blue
Ethiopia’s economic crisis is exacerbated by the political crisis that has engulfed the country. Ethiopia is trapped in a three-way intractable conflict. On the one front, there are the PM’s supporters who have bought his self-portrait as the savior and redeemer of Ethiopia and believe in him like an article of faith with a blind loyalty of a cult following.
On the other front exist two groups of his fervent detractors. Amhara extremists see him as the devil’s seed to destroy Ethiopia and create Greater Oromia. In contrast, Oromo extremists condemn him as Emperor Menilik’s protégée who is bent on rebuilding the Ethiopian empire at the expense of Greater Oromia.
The PM’s fault lines serve as lightning rod laid atop Ethiopia’s political landscape. This has allowed Amhara and Oromo extremist flanks to process their war against each other through the pro- and anti-Abiy political algorithm to optimize their power leverage. As a result, they have successfully used the PM as the transmission line and converter station to increase the voltage of their power and convert their tribal animosity into a national conflict.
Four questions serve as windows to survey the complex political landscape and explore possible solutions. Who is the boss in the Oromo political landscape? What is the strategy and end-goal for Amhara political factions? Can Amhara silent majority crowd out Amhara-Shene and short-circuit the Oromo-Shene and Amhara-Shene crisis transmission line? What role can the international community play to avert the impending crisis and set the nation on the path to recovery?
V. The Oromo Political Landscape: Who is the Boss?
The Oromo politics is dominated by different ideologies within the Oromo elite, ranging from groups championing a Pan-Ethiopianist agenda to those who fight to establish Greater Oromia on the ashes of Ethiopia. Each group follows different strategies to achieve its goal. Who comes out on top will determine Ethiopia’s future.
In 2018, Jawar Mohammed, the demigod of Qerro, declared there are “two governments in Ethiopia. Abiy’s government and Qerro government.” In another interview, he said, “the real power resides with Qerro and that Qerro is able to takeover Addis Ababa within 24 to 48 hours.” Ultimately, the PM was able to dissolve Qerro or at least erode it to a point that it could not serve as a powerbase for a Jawarian kingdom. The self-acclaimed second PM, who promised to die in Ethiopia fighting alongside his Qerro followers, is currently in exile.
Jawar’s unfulfilled coronation aside, today, it will not be a hyperbole to say that there are two governments in Ethiopia: an official government run by the PM and a shadow government run by a fifth column faction within PP-Oromo. The under the radar screen conflict between the two is complicated by Shene-Oromo that fights against both.
V.1. Pan-Ethiopianist Oromos
The Pan-Ethiopian group is led by PM Abiy. The PM is pulled apart by a tug of war between Amhara forces who demand the abolishment of the federalist system and Oromo federalist groups who are prepared to die defending the status quo. He is pursuing the Pan-Ethiopianist agenda cautiously, if not timidly to avoid a head-on clash with the federalist Oromo forces. But, at times, his timidity merges into apathy if not into indifference.
For moderate Amhara politicians, the PM is not going far and fast enough to dismantle the tribal federalist system. At the same time, Oromo groups accuse him of laying the groundwork to change the status quo. For example, his decision to display Emperor Menilik’s statute in Unity Park, within the imperial palace in Addis Ababa, was cheered by unionist forces and jeered by federalist groups. In addition, his decision to establish the Ethiopian National Dialogue Commission is welcomed by unionist forces, albeit without a fanfare. On the other hand, federalist forces oppose to it with vehemence, alleging most of its members are Pan-Ethiopianist.
And then there are a plethora of Amhara extremist forces, who see the PM as an imposter whose true mission is to entrench the tribal constitution as a permanent fixture. Some take it even further, accusing the PM as the primary enemy of Ethiopia whose mission is to destroy Ethiopia.
Having failed to win the support of moderate forces and facing a fast-growing opposition from Amhara and Oromo extremists, the PM is politically weakened. His pan-Ethiopianist agenda seems to have been pushed to the backburner.
V.2. Champions of Greater Oromia
The second Oromo group represents advocates of Greater Oromia. There are two factions within this group led by Jaal Marroo (the Oromo-Shene commander) and Jawar Mohamed. As far as political objective goes, both groups want to erase Ethiopia’s history, institutions and draft a new federalist Ethiopia that rhythms and rhymes with the tenets of Greater Oromia. They both want to get rid of the PM. To achieve their goal, the Jaal Marroo wing pursues armed struggle outside of the constitutional order. On the other hand, Team Jawar claims to use peaceful struggle, but often uses the threat of violence to thwart the PM’s Pan-Ethiopianist agenda.
In general, advocates of Greater Oromia are cancerous. Their demands are, utterly bizarre, stupid, and unmeetable. First, they condemn Emperor Menilik as a genocider, alleging he killed 5 million Oromos (50 percent of the Oromo Population). During Menilik’s era of expansion to the South of Ethiopia, the nation’s population estimates ranged from 9 million to 11 million, averaging 10 million. For the 5 million genocide of 50 percent of the Oromo population to be valid, the entire Ethiopian population must be Oromo at the time.
Second, they lament about Menilik’s atrocities against Oromo, while praising the Oromo moggaasa tradition. The moggaasa tradition involved forced assimilation of other tribes. Oromo expansionists brutally annexed non-Oromo lands and forced the conquered tribes to abandon their names, languages, traditions, cultures and even ancestorial heritages and adopt an Oromo identity. Those who refused to give up their identities were wiped out in a blood bath. By moggaasa standard Menilik would be a saint deserving of canonization.
Third, the group wants to register all lands that the Oromo annexed during its expansionary era as official Oromo territories but insist that Oromo lands annexed by the Amhara during Menilik ’s expansion should be condemned as invasion and be returned to Oromo to establish Greater Oromia. Jawar is one of the Oromo leaders who touts moggaasa as an Oromo legacy of nation building, while lamenting the Adwa victory led by Menilik as “rubbing salt on Oromo wound.” This is the cancerous nature of Oromo politics.
V.3. A Shadow Government Within PP-Oromo
The third Oromo group consists of a fifth column within PP-Oromo. Their political position is influenced by psychological and political factors. Psychologically, they harbor a victim mentality, lamenting a narrative that Oromo is a victim of historical Amhara atrocities and humiliation. Even after they assumed the livers of national power, they lack the psychological adaptation necessary to manifest the temperament, characteristics, and mindset of a leader. Rather than emerging as national and regional leaders to shape the geopolitical position of the Horn of Africa they are stuck in village politics.
Politically, they align with the PM to remain in power, but they do not want to see his Pan Ethiopianist agenda succeed. Their political calculus requires them to assure their followers that they are defenders of Oromo interests not to lose them to the Jaal Marroo or Jawar camps. On Oromo political continuum, they exist halfway between the PM’s Pan-Ethiopianist and Shene-Oromos’ Greater Oromia positions.
As a matter of strategy, they have made Addis Ababa their battle ground. The Oromo flag and anthem debacle in Addis is driven by this calculus. Though they are adversaries with Jaal Marroo group, they need them around as a check against the PM. They go as far as providing them with armaments and tipping them when federal forces prepare a strike against them.
The PM seems reluctant or unable to go against them. The shadow government flexes its muscle, going as far as arresting their critics in private prisons and corrupting the nation to enrich themselves and finance their army of activists and foot soldiers.
Part of ኃይሉ ጎመራው’s classic poem in በረከተ መርገም teaches us ‹‹…ነገሩ አልሆን ብሎ፣ ሁኔታው ሲጠጥር ጠጣሩ እንዲላላ፣ የላላውን ወጥር…›› The question is what is the ጠጣሩ in Oromo politics? Let us first talk about Amhara and then address how we can loosen the ጠጣሩ both in the Oromo and Amhara tribal lands. For those who do not read Amharic the message is hard to translate. Loosely translated it means “to soften up a hardened powder, tighten its loose parts first.”
VI. The Amhara Political Landscape: What is the Strategy?
The Amhara politics is coalesced around a Pan-Ethiopian agenda. The group consists of different factions that spend more energy fighting against each other and against the PM than against Oromo federalist forces. This has weakened both the Amhara and the PM and served Oromo-Shene well.
VI.1. Amhara-Shene: Twins of Oromo-Shene from Different Mothers
For over a year, I have used the terms Shene-Amhara and Ortho-Amhara interchangeably. The term Ortho-Amhara refers to the political matrimony between fundamentalist orthodox followers and extremist Amharas. The epicenter of Shene-Amhara is an enclave in the bible belt region of Gojam. This gives credence to the Ortho-Amhara characterization.
Apart from being from different mothers, the Oromo Shene and Amhara Shene have fundamental differences in some areas. Oromo-Shene is engaged in mass murder. Amhara-Shene is not engaged in violence, at least not as of now. Oromo-Shene aspires to weaken Ethiopia. Amhara-Shene is pro Ethiopia. One uses Geez letters and the other is into Latin letters. Oromo-Shene has strategy to achieve its goal. Amhara-Shene lacks strategy and a roadmap to its end goal, whatever it may be.
There are also similarities. Both are Talibanized in their thinking in that they do not entertain alternative ideas. Both hate the PM more than they hate each other. Both draw energy from each other and their brand of radicalism is dangerous for the survival of the nation.
The various shades of Shene-Amhara see themselves as the sole defenders of Amhara. Some in their ranks embrace a unitarist agenda with a shadow image of Ethiopia’s past. Others aspire to form an Amhara tribal party. One thing for sure is that they have not managed to develop a unifying Amhara agenda.
They have not made an iota of a difference in ending the mass murder of Amhara in the Oromo tribal land. They have done nothing to weaken Oromo extremism. More importantly, they have not made an inch of a stride to strengthen the Amhara political base to exert their influence in the national politics. To the contrary they have left Amhara without political power by cannibalizing moderate Amhara forces.
During the 2021 elections, despite threat from Shene-Oromo not to participate in the elections, 74 percent of Oromo eligible voters casted their vote for PP-Oromo. The corresponding figure in the Amhara tribal land was 44 percent. The Amhara people were not excited to vote for PP-Amhara. In the meantime, they saw extremist parties utterly useless and even dangerous. Not a singly extremist candidate won in the entire Gonder, Wello and Shewa.
Instead of reassessing their political position, they chose to be oblivious to the people’s rejection and maintained their two-prong political posturing. On one front, they doubled down on their rejected extremist agenda. On the other front, they continued their attack on moderate Amhara forces, leaving the Amhara tribal land without political leaders. Today, their primary targets are PP-Amhara and አብን.
VI.2. PP-Amhara: Existing in the Catch-22 Zone
The Second Amhara group is PP-Amhara. PP-Amhara works with the PM, but its leaders are losing confidence in him. They are increasingly questioning his resolve to go after Oromo extremists, particularly against Oromo-Shene. Though they work in partnership with PP-Oromo, they are finding their partnership untannable, especially after their lack of resolve to end the mass murder against the Amhara. The Addis Ababa Oromo banner and anthem debacles are also another area of contention between the two PP partners.
There is no question that PP-Amhara is playing second-fiddle to PP-Oromo and works under the undue influence of the PM. This has pushed the relationship between PP-Amhara and the people of Amhara into Catch-22 zone. The people want to see PP-Amhara to stand up for Amhara before they back it up. The leadership of PP-Amhara feel they need to be supported by the people to have political power behind them to stand up against the PM and PP-Oromo.
What made PP-Amhara weak? The Answer is አብን. In 2018, አብን was an emerging extremist force that caught the Amhara political scene by storm. Their primary goal was to dominate the Amhara political landscape as the sole defender of Amhara. Their first target was the Amhara Democratic Party (Current PP-Amhara), whom they accused of being a surrogate of the Oromo Democratic Party (current PP-Oromo).
The extremist environment they created led to the murder of Dr. Ambachew (the Chair of PP-Amhara and the President of the Amhara Tribal Land) along with members of his management team. The culprit was General Asaminew Tsigie who was closely associated with the extremist factions of the አብን leadership team.
አብን cannibalized PP-Amhara and soon after discovered that the brand of extremism that it was marketing has no buyer in the Amhara tribal land. By the time አብን came to this realization and moderated its position, it became a target of a plethora of extremist elements within its ranks. The consequence was the emergence of Amhara-Shene! Amhara Shene continued to weaken PP-Amhara and አብን further.
The question the Amhara silent majority must ask is. What is Amhara-Shene’s strategy in going after other Amhara parties while pursuing a political position that is resoundly rejected by Amhara voters?
- In Conclusion: ጠጣሩ እንዲላላ፣ የላላውን ወጥር
Let us first address the ጠጣሩ part. ጠጣሩ is the tribal constitution. The PM’s detractors criticize him for not overhauling it as the first order of business. That is an unreasonable demand both from strategic and practical points of view. Simply put ጠጣሩ እንዲላላ we need to do የላላውን ወጥር part first. The political and social environments need to be conducive for a fundamental constitutional overhaul. First and foremost, the economy needs to be saved from slipping into code blue and brought back to full health.
In the past, people like Shaleka Dawit Woldegiorgis have advocated to “dissolve the parliament and the constitution by decree.” This is dangerous. Over the last forty years, the political system has created tribe-based parties and entrenched interest groups who are benefiting from it. They are not going to see it go without a fight.
Others believe that the PM can use the current Parliament to overhaul the Constitution. This is foolhardy. Current members of parliament are beneficiaries and guardians of the system. Regions such as Afar, Somali, Benishangul, Gambella who did not exist as an autonomous region before the current Constitution are not going to vote to abolish a system that has given them autonomic power. The nation needs to build political and economic interest groups to counter-balance tribalist forces before disturbing the proverbial applecart. The nation needs do የላላውን ወጥር part first.
VII.1. The Onus is on the PM
An African proverb says: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Prime Minister (PM) Abiy’s Achilles heel is his oblivion to this time-honored wisdom. Most importantly, he needs to rein in his I know-it-all and can-do-it-alone policy and seek the counsel and guidance of subject matter experts. It is time for him to stop lecturing and start listening.
As a matter of urgency, he needs to overhaul the Ministers of Finance, Economy and Foreign Affairs. The starting point is establishing headhunters to seek the brightest and most talented people of Ethiopian origin (including those who hold other nationalities) and fill key positions in his administration.
Ethiopia’s economy is deep in the abyss. The only crane and engine that can pull it out is in the West. The Eritrean factor is complicating this. During the war, Eritrea was an important allay to Ethiopia. To say President Isayas was instrumental in saving Ethiopia from TPLF onslaught and ensuing total collapse would not be an overstatement. When the PM declared after the war that he knew who helped him to win the war, it was obviously a reference to God. I believe President Isayas comes a close second.
The West is worried about President Isayas’ influence over Ethiopia’s geopolitical position. In my view the PM’s nature would not allow him to be influenced by anyone. Nonetheless, the perception in the West is that Ethiopia’s dependence on the Eritrean army has brought with it President Isayas’ undue influence on Ethiopia’s geopolitical position. Some in the West mention the role Eritreans play in the #NoMore movement.
I am of the opinion that Ethiopia’s relationship with Eritrea is no one’s business. However, a lot of work needs to be done to leverage Ethiopia’s geopolitical importance to mobilize international resources. The nation needs a robust geopolitical strategy and season diplomats. The PM needs to develop a multifaceted geopolitical strategy along with a savvy communication ecosystem supported by lobbying powerhouses. His administration needs to be a reliable and predictable partner in the geopolitical theater.
Global powers tolerate a leader whose policy they do not always agree with than one that is unpredictable. We should remember the West did not mind the Ethio-Eritrean close relationship during PM Meles’ time (1991-1998). China was more prominent in Ethiopia’s economy during PM Meles than it is today. PM Meles was no less patriotic when it came to GERD. Truth be told, PM faced far more push back than PM Abiy on GERD issue. The difference is that PM Meles was more seasoned in geopolitics. He knew how to handle the West. He had powerhouse lobbyists and reliable allies with high-level American government officials and influential academicians.
VII.2. The Amhara Silent Majority: The Hope for the Nation
What is missing in the Ethiopian politics is the silent majority. Though all tribal homelands are afflicted by this ill, the problem is far worse in the Amhara tribal land. The fifty-six percent voters who stayed home during the last election constitute an unrealized political base. Awakening the silent majority in the Amhara tribal land should be a critical part of the የላላውን ወጥር operation.
Currently, the political market is invaded by Shene-Oromo and Shene-Amhara. As noted above, they are using the PM as the transmission line and converter station to increase the voltage of their power and convert their tribal animosity into a national conflict. The Amhara silent majority can short- circuit this process by crowding out Amhara-Shene.
The best way to address the destructive Oromo politics is through strategic Amhara response not so much as a push back but as short-circuiting conflict transmission lines. This includes denying Oromo- Shene the stream of energy it draws from Shene-Amhara.
Aside from short-circuiting the Shene-Oromo and Shene-Amhara flows of energy, the fifty-six percent voters who stayed home during the last election constitute unrealized political base. In the short- term the Amhara has no option but to shore up support for PP-Amhara and አብን to provide them with the requisite power base to defend the Amhara. Their support should come with pressure to have PP-Amhara and አብን stiffen their backbones to stand up and defend the Amhara interest.
The emergence of Amhara silent majority will have three implications. First, it will help moderate voices of PP-Amhara and NAMA to crowd out Amhara-Shene. Second, it will enter not only in the Oromo political calculus but also in the political decisions of other tribal homelands that are being bullied, killed, and forcefully displaced by Oromo extremists. Third, it will shift the intra Oromo power struggle in favor of the PM.
VII.3. The International Community: Ethiopia’s Rescue of Last Resort
The international community was instrumental in ending the war. By the end of 2022, the Ethiopian economy was in shambles, the PM was facing difficulty to pay civil servants after international budget support started to wane as part of the US led sanction. In the meantime, TPLF’s backbone was broken and its Tigrayan exceptionalism illusion was crushed by the weight of hard reality. Signing the Pretoria peace agreement was not an option but a survival imperative for both.
The PM and the #NoMore community may cling to their zero calorie “African Solution for African Problem” slogan, but the threats of sanction by the US was a key factor in the peace agreement. True, the African Union (AU) has played a role in neutralizing local political resistance against what the idiotic #NoMore Community propagated as western violation of Ethiopia’s sovereignty. Simply put, the AU was the conductor of the US scripted peace theatre.
To date, the only thing in the PM’s political calculus is the Oromo power politics. The absence of an organized Amhara political power means his concern is primarily with Oromo-Shene and the Oromo Shadow Government. Bringing the international community into the equation is critical until Amhara forces build a political powerbase.
The international community can play a role in altering the PM’s and the Oromo Shadow Government’s political calculus. Both want to remain in power. A coordinated call for an international sanction to end the mass murder of innocent Amharas in the Oromo tribal land will be a game changer.
A recent proposal by Professor Abu Girma from Japan calls for an organized international sanction campaign to “Starve the Ethiopian Beast.” His proposal is summarized as follows:
We need a systematic and well-coordinated endeavor that will be run by professional Ethiopians who make a determined decision to fight the beast the way it bites the most. We have the tools and already approved laws in the US and once the US government moves the rest of Europe and the mini-Arabs fall in line. I have examined closely the concept, design, and network put in place by the Treasury Department under the leadership of a very capable academic and policy practitioner, Professor John B. Taylor, and it has teeth and a system in place to follow the money.
I am fully on board. The state of the nation demands using all possible venues.
__
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In the beginning, when this neophyte assumed the premiership, there was unprecedented support, hitherto unseen in recent in Ethiopian politics. His “law and order” operation soon turned out to be a selective weaponization of the barely existent judiciary branch to imprison real and imagined threats against oromo hegemony. Abiy’s government became the most lawless, repulsively violent and unethical banana republic before everyone’s eyes. The unsavory and criminal activities of oromo fanatic kleptocrats, embezzlers and outright thieves in his oromo pp are rationalized and whitewashed by Abiy. His fat thumb has always been on the scale of justice denying the marginalized, disenfranchised, and downtrodden Ethiopians due process before the law. It has become morally repugnant and unconscionable to prop up Abiy’s grandeur of delusion, his oromumma illusion and pipe dream.
He is in this cesspool of ethnic cannibalism and downward spiral to the bottom of his own making. He makes asinine remarks such as “PhD Economists are not needed in Ethiopia”, “we have produced so much wheat that we need to worry about increasing our milk supply, eggs supply to eat all the bread we are going to bake”, etc. Abiy today has zero credibility, zilch, nada, nothing!!!!!!!
It is doubtful that any course correction will restore his credibility to 2018 levels, either. Now that more Ethiopians have died on his watch than in any other period in Ethiopian history, it is nearly impossible to restore faith and build public confidence.
The contributions and friendship of US government and American people to the people of Ethiopia still stand tall in North, South, East and West of all Ethiopia. The footprints of America’s legacy under the capable hands of Emperor Haile Selassie’s government and his seasoned diplomats and ambassadors still stand the test of time. Ethiopian Airlines, Gondar Medical College (Now Gondar University), Alemaya/ Haramaya Agriculture college (Haramaya university), Empress Zewidtu Memorial Hospital, etc are all the products of corroborative work between the US and Ethiopia under dedicated public servants with talent.
Abiy today has extremist oromo ethnofanatics like Shimelis Abdissa, and Mayor Adanech Abebe who constantly villainize and demonize the West, in particular, the US, for all their internal intra oromo cannibalism and knifing. Recently, the incorrigible mayor of Addis, Adanech Abebe, comically and shamelessly, blamed the West for the oromo national flag and anthem debacle she herself created in Addis Ababa. A few years ago, Shimeles Abdissa disparaged the wheat sent by the West on national tv. These are the people Abiy chose with whom to be surrounded. Tweedle dee tweedle dum, there you go, here I come is Abiy’s sad legacy.
ህወሀት በል ውረድ ተባለ፣
ህወሀት በል ውረድ ተባለ፣ህወሀት በል ውረድ ተባለ፣ህወሀት በል ውረድ ተባለ፣ህወሀት በል ውረድ ተባለ፣ህወሀት በል ውረድ ተባለ፣ህወሀት በል ውረድ ተባለ፣ህወሀት በል ውረድ ተባለ፣
TPLF no longer has any legitimacy to lead Tigray. TPLF is notorious for smothering the voice of political parties in Tigray, namely wunat(TIP), Asimba, Baitona, and above all the voice of its people. TPLF has brutally murdered priceless and most revered children of Tigray in deseret during 17 years struggle . TPLF use these political parties in Tigray only and only for its propaganda of democracy and presence of multi political parties in Tigray. However, TPLF never accept opinions of these parties and known for imprisoning Tigrayans and murdering them as well. TPLF is a dictatorial regime like Higdef , the only political party who numb its people.
Down down TPLF
Dear Dr., Yonas Birru,
I have read your recent article entitled, “The Accidental Rise and the Foreseeable Fall of Abiy Ahmed in the Land of Two Shennes”, posted on Borkena.com media on January 14, 2023, and was appreciative of your exposure of the political landscape in your perspectives and to stop the confrontation. That reward was rather accidental. However, I was appalled by the rest of your analysis. I do not delve into your item-by-item presentation; however, I would like to point out what I took from your article.
I agree that Dr. Abiy Ahmed’s rise to power was accidental or a blessing in disguise. Having said that, I do not see any tangible facts to support your assertion that he planned for Nobel Prize. His stand to make peace with Eritrea was good but full of naïve and shallow political outlook. What was seen is that he was not able to create any ground that could convince neither the Tigray people nor the TPLF. He did not also negotiate on the Assab Port that could have been a great advantage for businesses of Eritrea and Ethiopia. He acted intuitively and unsystematically. I did not know the unprecedented resources the US and Europe poured into the Ethiopian economy. If that was so, it could have changed the present behavior of Kerroo. Kerroos that once played a pivotal role with other Ethiopians in the process of toppling the aristocracy of TPLF have now turned into bandits that ended up on robbing people either by joining Shenne or by harassing and infiltrating into local Oromia governments that made corruption a norm manifested in different forms: robbing especially people with different hair and destabilizing harmonious relationships among neighbors, kidnapping for exorbitant sum of money, barricading roads and killing people they hate, and denying people from exercising human freedoms in most Oromia region; enforcing the black-red-green flag with an oak tree image on it as a sacred symbol in many places of the country wherever Oromos walk while harassment, torture, and death for an Ethiopian citizen found holding the Ethiopian traditional and historical tricolor a common chance for a person considered not to belong to a certain locality, rampant street-level politicians that manifest hatred against Amaras and other Ethiopians in Oromo vicinity has become the order of the day. All these manifests his poor and weak governance that he could not manage.
You also talked about reforms made by Dr. Abiy Ahmed. Dr. Abiy Ahmed had no fruitful political reforms. I could not see your explanation of his reforms objectively.
I know he is turning the Ethiopian palace into museums while building a new palace in his own image with public money or money assumed to be used by the public. You know that he championed opening parks around Addis Abeba, an activity that could have sounded better for a department in the Addis Abeba municipal administration. I would have been glad if your analysis included comments on the “Industrial Park”, how much it is popular, how much national capitalists participate in it, its feasibilities and economic prospects or returns in terms of at least raising employment, and economic growth of the nation. You could reveal who are being billionaires and at whose expense and so on in the economic progress since he came to power. I did not know why you did not delve into that while it seems that you have the potential to do that.
Your portrayal of Amara-Shenne is tantamount to equating it with OLF-Shenne. You are comparing a devil with an angel. OLF-Shenne has no human and nation building dream except advancing xenophobic genocide against its opponents especially the Amhara race. It is totally a savage and barbaric bandit clique while the Fano that you tried to portray as an Amhara-Shenne is a purposeful militant group that not only fights to defend Amhara from the racist and expansionist TPLF, it also has been defending Ethiopia’s foreign and domestic mercenaries like the barbaric OLF-Shenne, Gumuz, Kemant, and other TPLF surrogates that have no world outlooks about history, what is meant by equality, that all human beings deserve equal treatment, that oppression is not inherited by blood or language, that language is simply a medium of communication among people. These murder groups do not seem to have read the history of the USA that uses the English language, a language of its colonial past, many developed European countries, Australia, and African countries that use a language as a medium of communication. On the other hand, Fano, that mostly comes out of the Amara society endowed with broad outlooks of a diversified, and coherent Ethiopia and has been fighting to defend it from disintegrating while PM Abiy and his cohorts have rather unconsciously or consciously colluded with foreign enemies to discredit this noble militant group from the rest of Ethiopia equating it with other terrorist bandits. Of course, PM Abiy does not want any contender and a noble militant group like the Amara Fano is dangerous to erode his popularity on his shrewd stance to elongate his power through his filthy claim of being the indispensable savior of this historical nation from anarchy while in fact he plays recklessly or ignorantly as an instrument of anarchy.
Your remarks of “Great Oromia Champions’ attempts to build recognition for Oromo supremacists while a state of anarchy has been taking place on the ground; this situation is neither legal nor ethical. There is no shadow government as you tried to portray. What can be seen is a self-complacent leader who lives on his utopian flowery words who appears to be liberal or naive to power monger Oromo nationalists whilst his ignorance that building such recklessness among his own group never bore fruits anywhere but could eventually oust him from his prominence. The other fact is that Dr. Abiy lives by exploiting the great majority of patient and silent Ethiopians that understand the importance a state leadership, its ups and downs and who also understand that no matter what the PM does, at the end of the day it would make him accountable on the doom’s day. It is the noble Ethiopians that are trying to control things from being exacerbated that survived him.
He haphazardly entered a war that he did not have any knowledge or political capacity to avoid; he had to get out of it institutively while he could not have the capacity to deplete the fighting capacities of TPLF for total surrender instead of negotiation that opened the door for the enemy to revive as will be evident in course of time. In fact, fighting with TPLF was not Abiy’s intention just as negotiating with it; after all, he is brought up and shaped by TPLF with its narrow ethnic nationalism. This is manifested in the fact that he and TPLF love the existing apartheid constitution, that was imposed on the people, to stay since they know they need it for their narrow ethnic schemes. However, the continuation of this weakness will come to a point of no returns. Ethiopians will not be considered like herds anymore; they are more conscious and capable to control the state affairs at the end of ups and downs. But why to elongate their suffering for the sake of a handful of hooligans? Therefore, it is very important for Ethiopian nationalists to come together and save the nation even when they have differences. This is where an intellectual like yourself can play a role instead of lamenting individually as I got from one of your articles, “ሙሾ ከመደርደር አንድነትን ማፍቀር”, and as a well-known writer said, “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.”
Your elastic presentations that extend from economic analysis to state leadership and military engineer seems to make you a personality enshrined with all pertinent professions. It seems to me that you can be a good candidate to the prime minister’s cabinet. The fact that you said you produced over a hundred articles to help the PM’s best governance and enlighten our society on state leadership and perhaps on civil rights and obligations, I believe, are efforts that could have been more productive if you had played a role in breaking the silence of at least the intellectual group so that they could work together to save the nation from disintegration. You repudiated that individual or groups running alone could not bring about a national triumph but is limited to achieving a personal goal, and that personal goals are usually static and temporary that do not project to the far-reaching growth of a nation. So, I believe that your relentless efforts can bring together other intellectuals to muster their potential capacity and work together to save the nation.
Thank you
Tefera
Selam Tefera:
I hink u could have and you still expound yiu well deserved critique to an Article!
Regret to say though,that u both sound quite a bit biased:
Few points:
A-Agree that Abiy was hectic and disorganized on his Meddemer approach as he could have used an Institutionalized way of a National Reconciliation
-Your argument on the Ethio- Eritrea Peace is but naive and an uncalled for as Abit deserves nothing bit redit on his bold decision to mske peace with Eritrea unconditionally.
Your argument on Aseb is but samec old chauvrnistic empty mantra as Aseb nelongs to no one ekse but o Eritrea ; and if any negotiation to be made,it should be on Eritrea’s conditions and blessings besides Intl Laws and Norms .
I never seen such a long comment. it would have been better if have sliced and diced the the article of Dr. Yonas and came up with your side of the story.
I got an impression that Obbo Dr. Yonas is over taken by raw emotion this time around. It starts with the topic he chose for his article. That is very uncharacteristic of him. It is a well written article, thought provoking and a good set up for civil discussion. But it concludes leaving the cardinal question still wide open. I am from a school of thought that when a politician stays in a leadership role for an extended period, his animal instinct may or tend to take over. He will develop this arrogant idea that without him the existence of the country he leads would be in jeopardy. Do you need examples? Well, just look around throughout Africa, many former Soviet satellite nations including Russia and the commies den China. So I am in agreement with the dear Author that the current PM H.E. Abiy bin Ahmed should step down at some point in an orderly manner. His relinquish of leadership SHOULD NEVER LEAVE BEHIND A POWER VACUUM just like in 1974. The question left wide open for me is who is the one ready to take his place? Any one among the opposition? Don’t start with me about the opposition. Please don’t. What, there are more than 80 so-called parties? If there is a power vacuum they will turn on each other like mortal enemies, like territorial hyenas and a pride of lionesses. In pre 1974 years commies among us students were lambasting for the overthrow of an aging emperor and managed to arouse the interest of a few smart alecks in the military that was hand made by the emperor himself. They accused the monarch of ignoring starving people who were dying. They teamed up with smart aleck officers had him and his ministers rounded up and butchered that left the rest of the world horrified. They were accusing the emperor of ‘massacring students which was certifiably false and lies. It did not take the sweet talking officers too long to show the commies what the real massacre looked like in just 2 years after 1974. When millions were dying of starvation in 1984 Mengistu was busy importing the best Khamr(hard liquors) from the cellars of Europe. By then he had already made a quick job with the commies who used to deafen us at student conventions during the years before 1974. Power vacuum is not something to play around with. That country has paid dearly for it already and should never be repeated. So I close my comment with a question that has been nagging me. A list of qualified candidates to replace the current PM, please!!!! May be someone of pure race? Let’s hear it!!!!
Peace y’all!!!!
One more suggestion to Obbo Dr. Yonas. I highly suggest to him that once again he take a look at my Oromos Moggaasas tradition. It sounds that he was misinformed about it. I suggest he find and talk to 2nd generation Amharas born and raised in Western Hararghe region. Their grandfathers, grandmothers along with their parents were all ‘moggaasized’ by my Itu clan after they moved into the region after 1875. Nobody forced them to abandon their ‘Amhara-ness’ and their mother tongue. Those at my age never talk to me in English whenever we see each other even though they are fluent in it. It has always been Afaan Oromoo. Revisit sir!
My preceding comments were not meant to reply to the comment above them. They are original comments to the article itself.
Baby Yonas is trying too hard to be an influencer but it is falling on deaf ears. None of your terms and terminologies are worth the useless piece of paper it is written on. Your ethnic hatred for one of Ethiopias pillars: Amharas and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and it’s followers is pretty clear. You must be trained by Kissinger or Brezenski or Albright ..et al. The same goes for your farcical attempt at trying to divide Amharas … havent you heard of our beloved Professor Asrat… One Amhara for All Amhara we have never been regional… your western educated attempt to divide and rule will never work YOU TIKUR EUROPEAN.
In the end just go away Dude
The fellow hates Abiye to the core for reasons I do not know (but can speculate based on conversation with others who might), to the point of recommending TPLF and Amhara join forces join to oust him! Who in the right mind can proposes such a stupid and unless notion, particularly knowing what TPLF did to dismantle and destroy Ethiopia while in power for nearly thirty years and more recently over the past two years of rebellion against the Abiye government? Did he not make positive impression on PM Abiye while temporarily working in his office to be worthy of government appointment, or did the PM refuse to be used as revenge weapon against the World Bank for unceremoniously firing him (as he tried to use so many others in the revenge campaign on the pretext of racial discrimination)? I suggest he try to use the void time post-expulsion from the World Bank to pen specific economic policy papers on topics of his choice, at the minimum to exercise his brain. Topics may include: how to manage the foreign exchange regime along with probable consequences of the recommendation, how to manage the huge external debt together with the probable consequences on the macro and micro economic performance, the complementary roles of private and public sectors in the policy framework to promote balanced growth and equitable economic distribution of the gains from growth, management of public finance (both taxes and expenditures), how to divest real properties confiscated from the private sector and state owned enterprises built during the communist era, policy to attract direct foreign investment and priority sectors or sub-sectors, how to deal with the population explosion, how to revise and reformulate education curriculum at all levels to best address the future needs of the nation. He can pick any topics in which he feels confident enough to enlighten the rest of us pinions since he considers himself to be above any of us. Take a breather from polemic filled politics, and practice the Economic Profession for a change. Too many PhDs of this, MDs of that, Professors of this or that, etc spend their efforts practicing polemics filled political complaints rather than using their training to make positive impacts on the nation and people; even immigrants working at the bottom of societal ladder in the rich democracies of the world consider themselves to be expert politicians. Prove the ‘professional trainings’ were worthwhile.
I agree with you. From what I gathered this writer has an ax to grind with the PM and his administration. Someone told me that he was one of those so-called experts/scholars that were either shunned from being called to duty to help the country chart a new course economically and politically or after being invited all they have to offer was diatribe and endless lecture with no flesh to sink your teeth into. Just look at the poem he quoted that goes like ‘ነገሩ አልሆን ብሎ፣ ሁኔታው ሲጠጥር ጠጣሩ እንዲላላ፣ የላላውን ወጥር’. I just could stop laughing at it. It shows individuals like him still have their heads buried in the sand with outdated and destructive discourse style. He has driven himself so hateful of others he holds as enemies in his twisted imagination.
MAY GOD SAVE ETHIOPIA >having absolute NO HOPE from its own extraordinary intellectuals, with top most glaring degrees of testimony of their unparalleled shining wisdom on the UNIVERSE. Perhaps, the notorious military officer who ruled Ethiopia may be recalled to shape Ethiopia according to his wisdom. POOR ETHIOPIA, WITH VERY RICH HISTORY, IS THROWN INTO THE GUTTER of HISTORY. SAD! VERY SAD. What would the ghosts of Haile Sellassie, Menelik Tedros Yohannes etc [in alphabetical order] would …………….never mind
useless phd holder
Great overview on the challenges facing Ethiopia and what could possibly be done to resolve them. I know many have issues with the way Dr. Yonas comes across and with some of his assumptions. His arguments, however, are on point and something that PM Abiy Ahmed needs to heed in between his unbecoming of a PM project inauguration routines.
A well written propaganda piece for the continuation of Abiy Ahmed incompetent brutal jenocidal regime. It is marvelous to put this regime in the middle of the political landscape and for this to create a fictitious political entity called Amhara Shene and Ortho Amhara . Wow how deep runs this Anti Amhara sentiment! This guy educated Phded even may be cultivated couldn’t stand to his Ant Amhara sentiments but tries to rationalize it and create a totally fictitious political landscape in “ the Amhara tribal Landes” as he calls it and talks of a silent Amhara majority which has to support pp in order that Abiy wins and realizes his own Ethiopia Agenda. Such a joke! Do you really think we are so dumb to buy this . Abiy’s Agenda is Adanech’s and Shimeles’ Agenda. There is no pan Ethiopian Abiy. By the way I read a very bitter complaint that you are not member of the pms inner circle . You are article is a last Appeal for an advisory or ministerial job which has been ignored for the last four years because probably you are not of the “right” ethnic group. Keep on trying
Hold on guys it’s just the opinion of a Bildergberg mole/CIA agent who wants a regime change friendly to his cronies. Yonas lives in a so-called developed world surrounded with goodies and has an inflated ego, even disclaiming his roots. He has no idea of the facts on the ground. Maybe he has some truth in suspecting a “deep state” within the PP but his characterization of the Fano on equal terms with shane is sheer ignorance. Fano stands for human dignity and justice, something which you guys cushioned in the CIA capsule never know or experience in your lifetime. I advise – eat burger and stay mum, buddy!
Summary of the long diatribe
1- I told you so
2- why was I not consulted (experts can offer silver bullet)
3- I perfectly know what the solution is
4- Others are idiots
—
(Ayte) Yonas fails and fails miserably except in identifying some idiots. Next time some level of humility, appreciation of ambiguity might serve him better. Or else let him join the distinguished idiots club lead by Alemayehu Gebremariam, the idiot in chief!
Eventhough some analyses done by western educated Ethiopians and their intellectual snobbery are somewhat disagreeble at times or some have credibility gaps due to their perceived of invested personal interest and other professional ambitions, this missive rings some truth to it when comes to dismimal failure of Abiy’s leadership style on many fronts such as the economic front and much-vaunted vaunted political reform failures among others. Playing seek and hide for years or blaming someone is else for the failings can so much absolve his responsiblity and save him. One glaring and detrimental issue is the rampant curruption and public theft . It is now officially by newspapers, according to the government officials, that 60% drop, off in export gold revenue this years alone due curruption and black market. How is that possible ? This is only the tip of iceberg of the situation . Forget the entity of federal jurisdiction , the state of affairs in the Kilils is even much, much worse. Situation is dire and life is unbearable th he public due to brazen corruption and public theft, nepotism/tribalism . In the case of Somali Region in particular, nothing works and moves as we spoeak , be it contracts, business conduct, ,government operation and programs , etc. without insidious curruption entanglement. It is stand still and absolutely nothing moves. Why not ask and reprimand his currupt PP disciples, subornates and yesmen of the likes of Mustapha Omar , Shemeless, err t al to do something about this shameless
and corrupt culture in their fiefdoms whiil he prevericating in Arat Kilo? It is simple as that.
Abiy rise to power by promising false promises he has no intention to deliver. The mass support he gained without being vetted and careful examination of his character and ability. He was quick on producing endless speeches and fake promises. All the fake sinister talk, books and his actions turned out to be full of venom, evil and poison. For his lies and wicked action he must be held responsible!!!
Rushing to bad mouth intellectuals who dare to expose bad government policy and open up the eyes and ears of the youth and victims of government no longer works. It is and old and expired futile attempt by ignorant people who have nothing good to offer and who are afraid of going down with the dying wicked and ruthless Abiy government soaked in innocent people blood.
Yes Ethiopians want the end of EPRDF leftover Orommuma PP Abiy Ahmed!! Either voluntary Stepping Down or Forcefully Ousting expected to happen.
Abiy Ahmed has long trail of proven wickedness and sinister plots ( the 80 years old Mechaamaa Tuulaama aka OLF created after Italian invasion) against Ethiopia from from his own books that he can not deny. The “Medemer ” ill conceived and sinister Abiy philosophy is proven to Steal, Cheat and Subtract Amhara and non-Oromo POPULATION by KILLING and LOOTING and create a state called Oromia ON THE RUINS OF ETHIOPIA.
Supporters of TPLF are killing the most deared and loved fighters and servants of entire Tigray. It is verge of election and TPLF should give power to the people but TPLf is killing our brave ones.
PP should forecfully remove TPLF if they resist. No one will protect and die for them.
Furthermorre, apparently the Orommumma cover agenda of Abiye’s inner÷circle clique and opportunist remnants from OPDO ÷TPLF is coming into full circles as the multi-ethnic development deprived and chartered city of Deri Dewa city is now officially marked for takeover by Oromia region. This idea sounds deja vue all over again, If you thought rhat they will be content with or had enough of trouble with Addis Abeba case,, you couldn’t be more wrong. Accordingly, the main excuse for this move is budgetary problems and/or developmental stagnation though this issue was deliberately designed scheme from the get-go since the Woyane came to power. Woyane clique prefered to pour the whole national resounces and investmen into Mekele in lieu after Addis for obvious reasons, Abiye and his Orommumma regime continued the same pattern and status quo. This is despite, according to one MP who ckaims to represent for the city in the HoP , the DD city contributes more revenue to federal coffers and gets nothing back unlike regional Kilils, which get back tons of money through revenue sharing scheme. The new slogan plot goes now like ” it is ether to be part of Oromia Region or Somali Region or an outright regional self.” Rest assured, the last two options are out of question and it only masking the purpose which leads only to the first one ( the Oromia ) simply because the people who are instigating and advancing narratives of thec issue and the ones who would be making final and consequential decisions are the same. This conclusion is hardly a rocket science.
Furthermorre, apparently the Orommumma cover agenda of Abiye’s inner÷circle clique and opportunist remnants from OPDO÷TPLF is coming into full circles as the multi-ethnic, development deprived and chartered city of Deri Dewa city is now officially marked for takeover by the Oromia region. This idea sounds deja vue all over again, If you thought rhat they will be content with or had enough of trouble with Addis Abeba case,, you couldn’t be more wrong. Accordingly, the main excuse for this move is budgetary problems and/or developmental stagnation though this issue was deliberately designed scheme from the get-go since the Woyane came to power. Woyane clique prefered to pour the whole national resounces and investmen into Mekele in lieu after Addis for obvious reasons, Abiye and his Orommumma regime continued the same pattern and status quo. This is despite, according to one MP who ckaims to represent for the city in the HoP , DD city contributes more revenue to federal coffers and gets nothing back unlike regional Kilils, which get back tons of money through revenue sharing scheme. The new slogan plot goes now like ” it is ether to be part of Oromia Region or Somali Region or an outright regional self.” Rest assured, the last two options are out of question and it only masking the real purpose which leads only to the first one ( the Oromia takeover ) simply because the people who are instigating and advancing narratives of the ssue and the ones who could be making final and consequential decisions are the same. This conclusion is hardly a rocket science.
Dr. Yonas, እንኳን ሲሸጡን -ሲያግባቡን እናውቃለን! Here is the Recipe to Run Ethiopia: Renounce your American citizenship, go to Ethiopia, run & win in election, become PM.
Ethiopia is doing just fine without your ‘Expert Advice’ AND despite the 2-year embargo & sanctions your paymaster White Supremacist West [WSW] imposed on Ethiopia.
Why would any Ethiopian trust you and the ‘PhDs’ you cited? You Cheap Opportunist Pigs [COPs] chose serving the WSW for the money to returning to serve poor Ethiopia.
You & Co. are just the WSW’s Wolves in Ethiopian Sheep’s clothing. Ethiopia is better off without the ‘Expert Advice’ from the WSW’s Economic Hitmen in Ethiopian Hats!
Here is your WSW masters’ ‘Expert Economic Plan’ for Ethiopia: Force Ethiopia to devalue its Birr to naught; deny Ethiopia loans/aid; impose embargo/sanctions; plunge Ethiopia in to insurmountable bankruptcy; reinstate TPLF and rule Ethiopia via Proxy.
Q: Abiy kept Ethiopia afloat despite all this youtu.be/Pg3WuF1eXww?t=5 What have you and your ‘PhD’ buddies done for Ethiopia?
Dr. Yonas’ s target audience is the West. His goal is to present himself as expert analyst in matters Ethiopian in particular and the Horn region in general.
I do agree with his description of Abiy as narcissistic and know-it-all. Abiy for sure does not have someone to oversee the content of his public speeches, let alone instituting policy papers. It could be he does not listen to advice and hence, prone to making all sorts stupid statements unbecoming of a head of government. In other words, Abiy is a danger to the nation itself. The problem is this: there is little alternative to Abiy and he understands this!
I am Greek and i have been living in Ethiopia for the last 6 years. 4 of them in Gondar working with a local ngo and 2 in Addis Ababa teaching English. I am am freshly married with a gondarian woman. And i love Ethiopia and its people. I am sharing this with all of you to give you a bit of my background and my relation with your beautiful country.
I agree in general with his criticism of the PMs self centered style of government. I was also fond of him in the beginning until i read this hilarious story that he had the audacity and arrogance to share in public. ” His mother had prophecized that he would become the next emperor of Ethiopia!!!” He said that Infront of an audience!! For me this is unheard of and cleary indicates a narcissistic personality with delusions of grandeur, unsuitable for a PM. I can’t argue with numbers that the doctor is giving and i have certainly witnessed the crazy inflation of the past years. U could eat shiro in Bahr Dar for 20bir. No more… Now 1 kilo birtukan is how much??? 200bir in AA!!
I am not familiar with oromo politics but i know that what brought down the junta was the combined struggle of the oromos and the ahmaras. Really what do you have to separate. You both poor, miskin, but kind hearted people. I have seen your sweetness hundreds of times. U one of the very few countries that Christians and Muslims live in peace. Be proud of your diversity and your ability to overcome your differences.
But i understand that Ethiopia is really a difficult country to govern. That said, i think it’s very crucial to change the Constitution and eliminate the ethnic borders. One army, one police, one justice. All successfully countries are run this way nowadays. The problem is that history has shown that countries like Ethiopia who try to transition from an authoritative communist rule to a democratic free economy model of government gave many challenges. Corruption, nepotism, incompetence, ignorance of the world outside. This is especially true for Ethiopia, and very frustrating for a farenji who loves to read history. Because the history you are learning in Ethiopia is very different from the history we learning in the west. I am never saying who is right and who is wrong, but this creates a misunderstanding between the politicians of Ethiopia and the rest of the western world. When Ethiopia is the number 1 recipient of international help with more than 1 billion a year since 1984, how can the PM act surprised when the Americans ask him to play the game by their terms. Now during the civil war Ethiopia seems to bend to the anti west block of countries. China, russia, Iran and Turkey all of them have one thing in common with Ethiopia. An autocratic (at best) or even a theocracy (iran) as a govern system. My fear is that Ethiopia is going down this path, and i fear this will mean more pain and suffering and death. But that is up to you the proud ,cultured, educated and open minded people to pull up a miracle and reverse this course. This ancient nation of Ethiopia has a 3000+years of history and this means that there is an inherent wisdom in even the simplest of people, and this wisdom i invoke to guide you through these difficult times.
Ethiopia is NOT about Abiy & his regime! Ethiopia is ALL ABOUT its new generation!
The atrocities I endured as a child prisoner, and later in the hands of Ethiopians/Eritreans at work, forced me to opt for the White Supremacist West [WSW] as the lesser evil.
Had it been for the atrocities I endured, I should have been handing out truck loads of gasoline to every mercenary in Ethiopian Activist Hat who wants to burn Ethiopia down.
So, why do I air my opinion here and elsewhere? Answer: I don’t want my past to be the future of the 75% of Ethiopians under age 45. They deserve better life right in Ethiopia!
Here is the most decisive question I ask myself: What is best for Ethiopia at any moment in time? It’s like walking a tight rope across a ravine. I don’t want to see Ethiopia fail!
Bringing down the TPLF & Co. was a monumental task further complicated by Egypt’s & Egypt’s WSW masters’ support for them. Abiy REFUSED to sell Ethiopia to them!
Dr. Yonas is so dishonest that he didn’t even come clean with us on the አማራ ሸኔs!
የአማራ ሸኔ ማለት – የአማራን ካባ ለብሶ – የአማራ ፋኖንን ቆብ አድርጎ – አብይን በመቃወም አሳብቦ – ኢትዮጵያን የሚወጋ – የጠላት ጉዳይ አስፈፃሚ – የአማራ ባንዳ – ማለት ነው!
ለምሳሌ:- ጃል ‘ጄነራል’ አሳምነው ጽጌ፣ የጃል ‘ጄነራል’ አሳምነው ጽጌ ‘Amara Special Forces’፣ ጃል ሻለቃ መሳፍንት ተስፋ፣ ጃል ዘመነ ካሴ፣ ጃል ነጋድራስ እስክንድር ነጋ፣ ወዘተ.
ጃል ነጋድራስ እስክንድር ነጋ collected over 460k USD for ‘Balderas’ from ‘Ethiopians in the diaspora’ and ‘vanished’. He has paid ጃል ሻለቃ መሳፍንት ተስፋ several visits in Gonder.
ጃል ዘመነ ካሴ was arrested in Bahir-Dar with over Birr 500k, thousands of Euros/Dollars/etc. He was always moving around with at least 5 body guards who were የጃል ‘ጄነራል’ አሳምነው ጽጌ ‘Amara Special Forces’.
ጃል ‘ጄነራል’ አሳምነው ጽጌ:- TPLF sent him to jail for life. Dr. Ambachew et al. asked Abiy amnesty for him. Ambachew et al. made him Amara Security Head. He formed the Amara Special Forces, used them to stage a coup, and gunned down Ambachew et al.
Dear i_Mognu,
Keep writing and your words may find a receptive heart at some point. Yes, Dr. Yonas often deals with deception. Yes, Eskinder was a charlatan who should never have been in politics. I was looking through groups who call themselves Council this Etiopiawinet that. All belong in the same basket. Deception is the name of the game. Zehabesha is the hub now for haters and the violent. Don’t take my word; flip over the page and read for yourself. Those who foment violence for some reason are birds of the same feather. Having said that, I still believe Abiy is hard of hearing. Have you come across one or two close advisers with expert knowledge and experience? It is alarming to see he has surrounded himself with inept talkers and shadowy figures!
Amhara shene?
I am surprised!
Nomatter how you characterize it, it never support your labeling. The distance went to associated the assassination of Amhara leaders with intra Amhara conflicts of interst measures the shortest in the analysts’ memory. They were all killed by Abiy’s team, man! How many times should they release presses on how Oromo PP አባይን ተሻግሮ ቁማር የበላውን. Both teams, in your split of Ambachew vs Asaminew, were assassinated by PP oromo.
The single most important point in this article, IMO, is the view on 56% silent Amhara. This majority has, now, the morale to stand against any evil to protect each Amhara across the country. This majority has all the instinctual defensive rights in whatever tactical operation.
I wonder how names are tossed to cadres from elites, every time! Amhara shene?
Ato Desalegn Birara, love for Amaras starts with being honest with Amaras. Here is the TRUTH:
When ጃል ‘General’ Asaminew Group’s & ጃል Christian Group’s anti-Ambachew animosity grew, Abiy offered Ambachew a Federal Government Post.
Then, the same anti-Ambachew groups said, “Abiy is snatching Ambachew to weaken the Amara’s struggle!” So, Ambachew stayed on. Alas, ጃል ‘General’ Asaminew staged a coup using the ‘Amara Special Forces [ASF]’ he formed-and-trained.
After the coup failed, ጃል ‘General’ Asaminew was killed resisting arrest armed-and-on-the-run. ጃል ‘General’ Asaminew’s ASF formed the core of the አማራ ሸኔ. Presently, the አማራ ሸኔ are harassing & assassinating educated Amara Government employees.
PS: 10 US Embassy delegates flew to Bahir-Dar for the launching ceremony of አ.ብ.ን./NAMA. The Embassy never sent delegates anywhere else for such a ceremony before. አይገርሞትም???
Lost me at Amara shene. I am now convinced this guy is a troll.
Dr Yonas has written several articles arguing that the root cause for the travails and tribulations of Ethiopia rests on mental dysfunction , bordering on narcissistic personality disorder of PM Abiy , the action of all the different tribal groups in the country competing for the meager economic resources and for political power mostly to benefit the ruling party functionaries ( cadres) .
It appears that the system of governance is prone to produce more corruption and poverty , less prosperity. No amount of Western economic aid , debt restructuring , expert economists’ opinion and advice would have any significant impact.
I hope , for a change , he will focus on political institutions especially the judiciary , safety and security in the country , especially on the role of the government in the economy.
Hi Alem,
Despite all his flaws, I often see Abiy as a One-Man Army. When he took office, he invited the ‘Ethiopian Intelligentsia’ abroad to join him! As usual, they chose serving the WSW for the money to returning to serve poor Ethiopia. So, he fielded what he found!
When we judge anyone’s performance, we take the Operational Constraints in to account. Abiy took over a bankrupt Ethiopia and kept it afloat with $1 billion from MBZ. Ethiopia survived COVID; Egypt/WSW-sponsored TPLF War; the WSW’s embargo/sanctions; …
Look, Abiy is a millionaire [Nobel Prize] and has nothing to lose if he quits right now! Abiy scored huge with me when he refused to sell Ethiopia to Egypt & the WSW! On the other hand, let’s see the outcome had Abiy bowed to Egypt’s & the WSW’s arm-twisting:
1. Abiy would have been hailed a hero and rewarded with millions in his account.
2. This generation’s hopes would have been dashed: No GERD! No projects! Ethiopia would have continued being synonymous with “Famine” & “World’s Poster Child of Poverty”…
I confronted zehabesha several times and they barred me from posting. Yet, they allowed a TPLF crook to post rubbish using I_Mognu. So, I crafted a way to counter that!
Thanks, this is my second (recent) article of yours I have read, each time I come to learn the details of the Wannabees “politicians” (antagonistic, fringe politics) in Ethiopian politics to date. There is no way these people will see the light of day translating the fringe politics to take root in Ethiopia, simply because their concepts of reality is off base by miles & miles.
By your own count this one is one and 3 or 4 listed above are your best out of 100+, I plan to set time to read the 3 (minus the “Nov 2020” TPLF, which I already know where it ended, no need to read).
Since you write for the PM to hear your “suggestions”, here I have 2 criticisms for you.
Regardless of what one does from a shoeshine, laborer, professor, a surgeon, PM… etc. one has to be respected as a “human being”, period.
1) The PM regardless of the personality, he /she is the “Leader” of our Nation, that existed for thousands of years, unlike you favorites ( the pop-ups of the last 200-600 years, so respect).
Respect (1) the person (2) the office (3) The Nation.
2) Keep aside the grudge you have for him, period.
Even in this article you repeated the term ” seek advice and counsel from people of experience, and subject matter expertise.”
We all understood what you mean by that, the first time ( in my case in the first article i read, which you published last month). Yet you keep repeating it none stop, we got it, you were one of a few “subject meter experts ” that were organized as a group to “advise” the PM, and you assumed, he ignored you guys, maybe because he did not stop by to pat you on the back, for whatever it is…
Get over it.
Further in this article I read this:
(Re: Privatization)
“Although the PM has an Independent Economic Advisory Council (established in December 2020) and an Independent Committee for Privatization of government owned corporations (established in 2018), he has not met with them even once. Nor has he asked them to provide him with written advice and guidance.”
Reading that, one simply can connect the dots, and say “eureka “, ha ha .
(you used the term “oblivious” a few times, you think it was misused?)
I read on one of Borkena’s recent posts that, Ethiopia placed a “Sugar purchase” order from brazil, through an American Co.
– Scientifically has been proven that “Sugar” is Poisson, and it is the primary cause of CANCER;
yet we have not educated the people.
I also read on another recent article Ethiopian Sugar factories are up for SALE. And I still don’t understand the logic of seeing both in secession within weeks apart.
I am not saying NO to privatization, but it should be structured by up to 70% local ownership (the Gov maintaining at least 51%) and 30% foreign Capital to help modernization and production expansion, while help building local-capital within the nations citizenry.
I do not think selling all our public assets (generating huge “Bonuses” for the “experts”) is a good idea, which is making “tenants” out of our own people on their own land and selling their own assets. No!!!
About your assessment of the Amhara “Politicians” (the lack of), its a lost case for this generation of “leadership” drought, its devastating, except for one, (my hero) Ato Gedu Andargachew, who rebuffed Tramp’s childish ultimatum (disrespect) to our nations sovereignty, to force sign the ESE Washington “brokered” (uninvitedly) and killed by my hero. God bless him!!!
Aside from the kings and Queens of Ethiopia (some of whom credited astronomers registered as to have located the Constellations of Andromeda, Cepheus, & Cassiopeia,) I read about and the late King I grew up admiring & and came face to face with to took my diploma from his hand 1973, there were great names of Ethiopian war heroes I read about & heard of that came from this great nation of ours; but no more these days. I must have been some sort of a curse; perhaps (hope) a temporary one.
Link =starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/88constellations.html
The thousands of years of history of the great nation Ethiopia CANNOT be rewritten by millennials of today.
CANNOT be Erased.
New released research finding (2019) we maybe the ones who built the Pyramids of not only Egypt abut the world over!!!
Link = youtube.com/watch?v=KMAtkjy_YK4
And on your last point (from Japan, & you seconded):
“Starve the Ethiopian Beast.”
This comes from idealizing the “Western” ways born from westerns mass “education of self hate” in building US hegemony dream; which we see being collapsing due to its unstable (delusional) foundation that is not based on RERALITY.
No one (no Human) is designed to accept domination; there is something within everyone that never STOP seeking liberation.
One builds a fence around his/her house (estate), for a while one feels secure, but soon enough he/she feels imprisoned and want to go out of it… That is exactly what is happening with our “Oromo” brothers.
In fact the I read above, you stated such to be the case with TPLF (the architect of current ethnic based constitution) as of its resent defeat.
“Starve the Ethiopian Beast.” (=torture=CIA) (wink wink).
It is not only a totally misguided idea, it only comes from an independence-deprived mind (“constipated -mind”).
See, by just waking on the Earth, one can describe what one sees and assume that is all the Earth is all about; but that is just an individual “perspective” (understanding), perhaps 0.000…0000001% of what Earth or nature is or is about.
And all the “educated” people combined knowledge + all the known knowledge to man kind can be loaded on an iPhone.
Someone with PhD is basically a guy that read a few books and “Memorized” the relevant part of he learnt in his head, and up to this time in human history those people were the go-to people for knowledge to learn from in or at all the schools of the world.
In a next 10 years or less everyone will have all they need to know as well as who to do the most suffocated activity (including brain surgery) using AI on their iPhone or android (Alexa & Siri types) .
Regurgitating ideas from books (memorizing) becomes obsolete.
Including the one-book reader (Pope) that are thought to be closer to god than the rest.
At the moment (last 50 years) Ethiopia has been at a crossroad, and the journey will continue, people come people go, 100 years from now all that are there will be no more.
Human Life is like a blink-of-an-eye; we are meant to live every moment in conscious awareness the gift of exploring in the “Physical-dimension” (a temporary lab) that has an end-date. Yet some chose to live the “Gone” time of the last generation and to try to relive it… it is impossible. For one there was no car when king Menelik II lived. We are live in a different era, soon it will be even harder to live like we lived 15 years ago with no Cellphone.
In Ukraine people are standing on the street to charge their cellphone while bullets are flying & bombs are exploding close by… it is a different time and you do what the time you are “born in” present you… no other.
No one even notices their life giving-force (the expansion and defilation of their lung) but this next “breath” could be the LAST.
Boom it is over. And all one has chosen to have done is make their and the one next to them (Amhara) life miserable.
Or all they can think of is —> “Starve the Ethiopian Beast.” ?
Remember when one thinks about doing something to a human being , they are doing it to themselves !
There is no one else here.
All you see around (sense with your 5 “senses”), is you. (even that which is not in human “FORM”)
“FORM” is a physical-manifestation, without “form” there is no physicality (manifestation/creation) you are nether.
Energy cannot be created or destroyed!!!
One can kill or cut a “form”, not the Energy within it (the energy is eternal, more over energy is “one”).
Apologies, for some “terms” I use to make a point, it is not meant to make anyone feel bad!
(I am aware I am doing it to myself, if when I do 😉 ) “No one else is here”.
Be well !
There are 2 major things Humans suffer from:
#1) One is “Identity”.
The more Identities you form, the more you suffer, because identities need “defending” at all cost.
That is the nature of identity.
“I am an America”, you have to go to war to defend you nation (happens all the time), but if you came as an Iranian, you kidding me?
“I am a man” this days you have to defend this one (not just from woman) but other 25 other genders that popped-up in the last week alone 😉
Goes, on and on , tribe, village, team, flag, religion, shape, .. the list is endless…
But if you just drop all of them and settle for a “human being”, you ended all these sufferings that come from the identities you have accumulated over time, that had no meaning to you when you were 4. 😉
#2) “Like & Dislike”
Every time you see the thing you “do not like”, your blood boils…
You cross pass your-x (once you loved to bits) you get all kinds of bad-thoughts fill you mind…
End less dram.
Something you like, the same you suffer, even more if you do not have it as yet…
But if & when you change such definition/categorizations and settle with “I am fine whichever way it is, or what is around or not around”. Then you free or liberate your selves from the unneeded suffering.
In this situation, say , you need to get an apple you go get an apple from the store that has all the other fruits but you do not get upset they have more or these other ones you do not need at this time…
Treat everything in that manner, nothing bothers you, the suffering that you created by your definitions will be there.
In other words, your life is happening within you, what is out side of you is a reflection or a response of other “FORMS” generated out of their life with in in response… say, someone passing you by, going to the store to get groceries. Other times someone playing music-louder, insult you for no reason, (because they think you purposely turned the volume of your music player just to annoy them…)
Because of that, we constantly drink Poison’s (anger, hate, dislike, etc..) expecting someone else to suffer.. (but that someone has no idea you are sufferings because he /she is Amhara, Oromo, Solatto, fat, short, tall…. etc.)
Remove these 2 unhealthy designations/categorizations and LIBRATE your selves.
Very easy to do, but first total understanding of the subject matter is the foundation to un-brainwash, yourselves back to the time you were 4 /5 years old and very happy and nothing in the world can make you Unhappy at all.
It also needs a lot of practice to unlearn all the dram fed to you by others or you fed your self thinking “This is it”.
To your core, YOU ARE NOT from this Earth, or this Universe; it is the body you are in that is geo-locational (at birth). And it is the tiny DNA from your parents that formed your Body (the food your mother ate made the baby you) and the food you ate since birth is what to “IDENTFY” as being you.
But you are NOT it.
The real you cannot be seen, touched, tested, smelled, or heard
You are & I are None-physicals (not a thing= “nothing”= energy (and there is only ONE)
Science (quantum science) is STUCK at “The singularity” (String theory).
Be well !!
The stupidity of this article is that accepting Abiy Ahmed’s false narration of Oromo Shene and Amhara Shene.Those two organizations are not real but imaginary to cover up Abiy’s OLF activities in Wollega. Abiy’s OLF forces kill and feed Amharas flesh and blame it on Shene. Don’t let Abiy feed you imaginary words. Do your own research.
“Topics may include: how to manage the foreign exchange regime along with probable consequences of the recommendation”
– how about bringing the official but fake bank exchange rate to the real market rate which the underworld arena is speculating aabout
– how about allowing access to legitimate, tax paying importers and exporters so they can do their job with government goons demanding bribes, side payments or promoting one ethnic group domination and hegemony now by Oromos as was done during TPLF era of Tigraian hegemony???
“how to divest real properties confiscated from the private sector and state owned enterprises built during the communist era, policy to attract direct foreign investment and priority sectors or sub-sectors”
– how about returning these so called “nationalized properties” to the original owners including Ethiopians and foreign citizens or their legal heirs????? Show us that the Abiy Oromumma clan is different from derg militarists or TPLF ethnofanatics, that there is respect for the rule of law in Ethiopia, that universally enshrined property rights are expected in Ethiopia BEFORE SCREAMING WE NEED DIRECT FOREIGN INVESTMENT 24-7.
1) Return Mosvold to rightful owners
2)Return Empress Zewditu Memoria Hospital to founders
3) Return Yilma Bedelu Building to rightful owners or heirs
4) Return Ghion Hotel
5) what happened to Anbessa Pharmacy during Abiy’s and Shimelese Abdissa’s reign????
6) etc.
There you go, that will be a start!!!!!!
“how to revise and reformulate education curriculum at all levels to best address the future needs of the nation”
– you can start by letting the Ministry of education do its job without any political interference from the executive branch, from meddling and interference by the incompetent Abiy Oroumma gluttonous PP
– you can start by letting the foul mouthed Adanech Abebe to stop meddling in the education of Addis Ababans, to stop politicizing and fostering Oromumma militants from polluting the education fountains of Addis Ababan youth, to keep her and her Oromumma PPs hatred and inferiority complex to themselves or seek professional help for their individual diseases and ailments.
Pretty sure, there will be either thumbs down or deafening silence from the Oromumma PP wing or “think tank” or any either Abiy sympathizers on these issues.
Will you be transparent about the bidding processes on all these massive pet projects the premier boasts about day in day out???? Will you be willing to share their economic impact or benefits for the average Ethiopian?
Can you explain to Ethiopians why it is ok and how it is possible to get foreign currency to import 300 birr per kg grapes from abroad but not have foreign currency to import critical medicines?
Why you always blame the West for the bribery, embezzlement and theft committed by the African government official in an African country?????
አይ የኢትዮጵያ ምሁር ስብስብ ነቀፌታ!!!
What a deceptively catchy title used to attract and persuade unsuspecting readers? The desired core message is obvious – reincarnating Imperial Ethiopia with the Amhara at the apex of the food chain is the only way out of the current crisis in Ethiopia. What is more dishonest and devilish in intent than comparing fictional history as extreme as the “Depteras” fairytale of “Oromos came from “beyond the ocean” and invaded Ethiopia at unknown time and place with yesterday’s history of Menilik’s forcible incorporation of Oromia and neighboring nations into the Abyssinian Empire in late 1890s? The name Ethiopia did not exist when the invasion started, let alone during the fictional history of Oromo invasion. In addition to the well documented mass murder carried out by Menelik’s expeditionary force, the occupiers institutionalized slavery in the occupied nations that lasted through the 1950’s! Please check this link for more on this -theguardian.com/global-development/2023/jan/18/ethiopia-slaves-in-denial-about-injustices-of-the-past
It is absurd to attempt to draw a parallel between OLA/OLF that has been fighting to end injustice and slavery since the 1960s with FANO that came to being about 2 years ago and calls itself “Rist Asmelash” and of recent, going around and murdering Oromo civilians in their homes in their own country. Good try but rest assured, the imperial state you seem to crave for will never come back.
FYI:
1) “Oromo” is a Language, not a decryption for people.
2) Menelik II, as the name indicates is the second king with the same name. The kingdom he continued to have had lead has over 3000 years the last one being Emperor Haile Selassie I.
Some of the Earlier Kings and Queens Ethiopia were one of the first astronomers who have “Constellations” named after them; it includes :
a) Andromeda Princess of Ethiopia
b) Cassiopeia Queen of Ethiopia
c) Cepheus King of Ethiopia
NASA’s Lists of 88 officially recognized Constellations:
Link = starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/88constellations.html
If it was not for the strong Kingdoms we had in all those times, we all would have been FORCED to speaking French /English /Italian/German… just like the rest of Africa , the Americas, & Asia…
We wouldn’t have known the existence of any of our own languages we “Proudly” speak today! 😉
Ocean/Sea:
Till the modern-day European map makers came along and changed it to Atlantic Ocean, it was known as “Ethiopian Sea” for thousands of years (just like the “Kingdom”.
(“The Atlantic Ocean Was Once Known As The Ethiopian Sea | The African”)
Link = duckduckgo.com/?q=ethiopian+ocean+map&atb=v314-1&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fd7nm3c5ruslmy.cloudfront.net%2Fafricanexponent-com-client%2Fimages%2Fcddd2a9a-311e-488d-9532-efa736b2ebc8-image_2021-04-26_063944_aspR_1.445_w643_h445_e400.png
Our “Geez” books written thousands of years ago are in the worlds libraries and countless Universities in Europe & North America, by the tenth of thousands.
Amharic is one of only 6 languages in the world, that has its own:
a) Letters
b) Parts of Speech & grammar
c) Number system
d) Calendars (1) for for the Church , (2) the official calendar for public use.
Yes it gets them all from its origin/base-language Geez.
Letter learning, then reading , and writing starts in Ethiopia (“Kease temhert-bet”) (primary education) using Geez. ( I did not realize till lately, I was thought in Geez (not Amharic) when I started አማርኛ ፊደል እና አማርኛ ንባብ.)
By the way, this is not to say one language belongs to one group of people, it is a “tool” to be used by anyone that want to use it in the process of widening one’s circle in Communication, both in social & business practices.
No language is “superior” to another, as a tool it serves (but some languages are more developed in becoming flexible and not only easy but structured in gender/number/age identification & are easy to organize the message/story one crafting to tell. In some of those cases Amharic is more precise in grammar & words sophisticated than the English langue itself, maybe even better than many others world wide.
In fact the only single copy of “The Book of Henock” written in “Geez” is found in Ethiopia.
(Those Ethiopians used flying chariots, to travel the cosmos to visit other cultures in other solar systems & Planets. ) 😉
All this, and many other Ethiopian History (old and new) that includes Oromo, Tigray, Gurage, Afar, Somali, Tamma, Aderea, Kembata, Dorzee, Amhara, Sidama, stories/cultures/traditions/languages all belong to “All Ethiopians” (if not the whole Human race).
Here is a new research “uncovering” why the “noses” of all the Egyptian Pharaohs are knocked off their faces?
(the suggestion is, it might have Ethiopian-connection, clue being our “Writing” & “Building” practices for thousands of years do connect us to who the real “Egyptians” might have been. The research story does not stop in Egypt, it leads us to Mexico, South America, Asia, Australia…etc. , wherever they went they built monuments using similar-techniques which was not transferable 3500 – 6000 years ago even earlier, to the time of “Atlantis”, some where about 10,000 years ago… We could be the “Atlanteans” too, who knows? )
Link = youtube.com/watch?v=KMAtkjy_YK4
Remember, there is only one Human-race.
Every other animal on this planet has more than “one type” (variation in evolution) of its species, except the “Human-being”.
We are one family, but we do not live it, since there is some “profit” to be made in “dividing”. It is obvious today, what the “BANKER” family from Frankfurt-ghettos did to European Kings & queens since the 1745.
Our own “WB & IMF” ex-employees & others “S.M. experts” et. al. , (the “Undertakers”) are trying their best to sell as to the highest bidder… 😉
Be well !
typo, 1st line, should read, ** “not a description of people” .
Self-correct (Line 1 of my post above).
Please ignore –> 1) “Oromo” is a Language, not a decryption for people
(Oromoኛ vs Oromo, I got it.)
Great article that provoked many different thought although some are just diehard supporter of the corrupt, self centered, low IQ, thin skin and inept Abiy Ahmed who is consumed with lies and living his childhood dream to become a king.
The country that was built on rule of law, hard work, ethics, and blood and tears had managed to live in peace and provide protection for its people including earning admiration and respect from its neighboring countries and around the world. for hundreds of years. Despite disruptions by Italian, and enemy invasions and few protests its peace with its people has always been at peace and daily life of citizens has never been affected. Some people accuse Ethiopia for being a Feudal system without knowing how the rest of Europe was all about Feudal at that time. Even looking back I can say that was the most peaceful and best years for Ethiopia.
There has never been Shene like cannibals freely massacring innocent people while the “government itself” is coving up and playing part of AmharaGenocide.
PM Abiy Ahmed and his PP Oromo gangs are forcing and threatening people to join their party and joining means agreeing with every decision Abiy makes. Abiy is known to be abusive of his power and the only thing he wants is clapping hand robots listening to his insults, lies and trash talks.
According to oromumma goons who are surrounded with the terrorist OLF/ OLA criminals that have been murdering Ethiopians, including those of oromo ethnicity, for decades, “ The name Ethiopia did not exist when the invasion started” and the invasion apparently started in “late 1890s”.
Since one of THE GREATEST EMPERORS IN ETHIOPIA’S THOUSANDS YEARS OF HISTORY, THE GREAT EMPEROR MENILIK II has bee causing these goons so much grief and distress (100 years past his death) let’s go back in time his predecessor, Emperor Yohannes IV.
Dear sensible readers, a quick perusal of past Ethiopian history and archives show the seal of Emperor Yohannes IV as Neguse Negest Yohannes Ze Ethiopia”.
So can somebody teach these goons how to read, compile and understand history and at the minimum the NAME ETHIOPIA OFFICIALLY EXISTED ON THE SEAL OF THE THEN EMPEROR OF ETHIOPIA, EMPEROR YOHANNES IV, WHO CAME BEFORE THE GREAT EMPEROR MENILIK!!!!!!!
Maybe, if the oromumma goons and their golf asters read real history, and avoided politicizing and ethnicizing every topic in Ethiopia, they would be at least not a laughing stock before everyone.
Nobody in Ethiopia is trying to resurrect or reincarnate the non existent “Imperial Ethiopia with the Amhara at the apex of the food chain”. What Ethiopians are asking the oromumma goons, just like they were asking tplf goons is, to stop stealing, to stop embezzling, to stop your nepotism, to stop murdering those that you imagine and fear are a threat to your hegemony, to learn to respect the law, to learn to be human and to act humanely, to find treatment for the inferiority complex that is ailing you and so on. Also by the way, how about learning to make an honest living for once in your life time!!!!!!!!!
The OLF/OLA is a terrorist organization just like tplf was. It is funny how the adage “those living in glass houses should not throw stones” rings true all the time.
The oromumma and tplf militants constantly carp and bark about the “100 years old Ethiopia of Emperor Menilik”.
Have you fools ever realized the simple fact that there have never been and will never be territories called greater tigray or oromia in Ethiopian history ever!!!!!!!!!
Your ethnic enclaves are at most a fiction of the past 30 years. Even by your own asinine account Menilik’s Ethiopia is at least 100 years older than your non existent greater tigray or the non-contiguous lands of political fiction
called
One more thing, the term Fanno existed well before the terms tplf, olf, ola even came about. Fanno actually became popular during the resistance against fascist Italy’s invasion of the late 1930s and early 1940s. The term Fanno actually precedes even the term woyane of the mid to late 1940s, which was a rebellion, supported by remanant arms left by forces of Fascist Italy, against the new taxation regulations introduced by the Ethiopian Government.
Typo corrections for previous entry.
“Maybe, if the oromumma goons and their golf asters” should read “Maybe, if the oromumma goons and their tplf masters”.
“Your ethnic enclaves are at most a fiction of the past 30 years. Even by your own asinine account Menilik’s Ethiopia is at least 100 years older than your non existent greater tigray or the non-contiguous lands of political fiction called”……….. should read “Your ethnic enclaves are at most a fiction of the past 30 years. Even by your own asinine account Menilik’s Ethiopia is at least 100 years older than your non existent greater tigray or the non-contiguous lands of political fiction called oromia”.
Some of the facts I observed/learned contradict some parts of comments posted above:
Although Haile-Selassie enjoyed massive support from the White Supremacist West [WSW], Ethiopia became synonymous with ‘Famine’, ‘Poster Child of Poverty’, etc.
The Derg didn’t fare better with support from the Socialist Block. TPLF with its massive support from the WSW only fooled us with its empty ‘Double Digit Economic Growth’.
Abiy took over a TPLF-ransacked Ethiopia rocked by ethnic riots, armed conflict, etc. Yet, he kept Ethiopia afloat despite the Egypt/WSW/TPLF-Sponsored war, COVID-19, the WSW’s embargo/sanctions, etc. He derailed TPLF’s repeated come-back efforts, too!
Abiy is also feeding about 10 million elementary and junior high school kids twice a day. Farm output is at an all time high! Electrification, industrialization, agricultural mechanization, wireless communication, transportation network, etc. are mostly on track.
So, Abiy fares far better than all his predecessors combined – AGAINST ALL ODDS!
Yes,
Most of the economic development activities you listed (following the introduction of modern Education & building Educational institutions) were started in Haile Selassie time except the “wireless communications” which were not widely available even in the “advanced Economies” till the early 2000’s. Ethiopian Airlines in 1950’s , Addis Djibouti train-connection during Menelik time, major industries, Meta, Meloti, St. George beer factories, Kokka Electric Dam, Wonji & Merti (metehara) Sugar factories… Ethiopian Navy, Assab-Oil-Refinery… Universities of science , Engineering, Academics, & Agriculture… many plantations, many Technical & commercial schools… etc. & many many more were legacies of the Monarchy; except “wireless”; ( it was there, but no one knew how).
Here is one thing we all need to understand:
– there were no mass-Ethic-killings, none.
– the law of the land was consistent across the nation, no “hoodlums” acted independently…
– there were not displacements of citizens by hoodlums (thugs).
– Government run settlements were introduced since 1960’s drought, extended in the 70’s.
Most importantly, Haile Selassie had a plan to build the GERD but was unable to get Loan from the developed world, the place and basic /necessary study were done but the funding.
The US was involved in the study, but it was designed to serve as political-deception on Egypt, to force Egypt sign a deal with Israel and promise to share Nile-water with Israel (which Sadat agreed to) and the US stopped the GERD plan, HIM could not find the funding to start the project, by saying “The next generation will be able to do it one day”.
2) One can only live according to the time he/she lives in.
That is why today an average citizen lives in comfort & convenience most “Royals” across the world did have access to.
– Only the next generation lives /studies/ gets exposed to NEW inventions that did not EXIST before. If you came 500 years ago, you would have been killed by the Authorities for the “unknown” lists of items you put forward above…
Cave man vs modern man, implies the “passage” of TIME, and what came forward (that was not understood before) at a result.
Remember, modern man did not bring any thing NEW, but modified (used Alchemy/manufacturing/making tools (including “language” which is miss understood today and can get you killed in such promotive ways) what has always been there, since CREATION.
Most inventions are found Accidentally, even babies are accidental, hence they do not plan to speak one language or another, did not they could get killed for using/or not using a specific one (cave man style, still exist in 21 century).
Most blame Abiy, for the savagery that is going on in Oromo “region”. The problem he has is, he is surrounded by many people who do not Understand what he is telling them. He is on record saying, “division is dangerous, we will be eaten up, one by one” , but his advise is not fully understood by some who think “it is their time to shine” (not comprehending “shine” might come from a BURN, but they do not imagine that far ahead, it seems).
To put it simply, these people are standing at a Gas-station, and are asking Abiy “if he has cigarettes”?
He is not willing to give it to them, knowing where they are at, and what would happen if he did (total destruction).
It is like telling a man at end of a cliff (he has is not aware of) about the “grassy meadow” behind him, in hope of altering his attention to the meadow go there instead,
That is what Abiy is trying to do, hopping time will be on his side and help him to curve their attention to safety.
The others (80 million) obviously are frustrated by his “kid glove” treatment of the very-few in Oromo, with no end in sight, despite the patience the majority is willing to show.
If it was not for “Covid”, Abiy could have had a full parliament in the last election cycle, & could have called for a referendum (vote in parliament ) to dissolve the Ethnic-based-constitution and draft a new federal-constitution that enshrines full individual-right & freedom across the nation, under the law.
– He could still do it, but my guess is, he is buying for time.
The sooner the better for the nation and all its citizens, “regions” MUST be abolished & fast, before Ruanda 2.0 comes in play in Ethiopia, as is the case in Ukraine since 2014 US-interference in that area and started the conflict using Ethnicity, (those who thought they will win and become superior are dying in the thousands in diches everywhere, fools do sometimes take unnecessary steps only to realize it is harmful to themselves (as TPLF learnt that fact today, as we speak).
One might think, how come these guys (a hand full) in Oromo, are unable to see these, and learn from it and deal with the problem before it is too late?
They think they are the “majority”, but the fact is, they are the minority; if the others 80 million + come together and voice their intensions and declarer an ultimatum “take it or leave it” for the our Oromo brothers, that they are heading in the wrong direction (TPLF was given that opportunity before it started the war it lost and let hundreds of thousands of our kids die for no-reason, and is now looking for its own-self to get concessions and an office job for its top-leaders ( with no remorse for the 600k life’s lost; what a shame).
Peace, before defeat/lose of life/being in the wrong side of history is a better than the inevitable.
If Hitler knew in advance that he will lose in a catastrophic manner, and his nation & the people of Germany will become a “vassal” state to the US, (the total opposite of what he dreamt), he wouldn’t have taken the path he has, same for all losses of war (TPLF), perhaps many to come, looking at some people with attitudes.
People & bad ideas die, nation will remain, as long as humans exist on Earth. (it is a human thing, to divide and direct, the only way he/she can “understand”/define anything, (still know 0.0000…01% only, anything we knew to be true 100 years ago becomes wrong in many ways than one… because the nature of “intellect” is LIMITED ).
Be well.
Typo last paragraph, 2nd line
“divide and direct” should read “divide and dissect”
TY.
“Although Haile-Selassie enjoyed massive support from the White Supremacist West [WSW], Ethiopia became synonymous with ‘Famine’, ‘Poster Child of Poverty’, etc.”
Should we go about and regenerate all the communist propaganda of the 1970s that was used to malign and incubate the instability that led to the overthrow the government of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974? It is sad that the so called “progressives” of the time got bamboozled and lost the ball, and failed for the political chicanery of Ethiopia’s traditional but well known enemies. The late 1960s to 1970s actually was a period when Ethiopia was witnessing the proliferation of light industries, a booming of the housing sector in the cities, the establishment of the first noticeable middle class, a proliferation and growing interest in the arts, music and cultural transformation.
It is true there was a rising divide between rural and urban Ethiopia. If the so called intellectual class of the time only focused in abridging this rural vs urban asymmetrical growth (an asymmetry, by the way, not unique to Ethiopia), Ethiopia would not have faced the fifty years of misery, wars, mass murder, mass migration, mass displacement and crushing poverty combined with uncontrollable population explosion of the past 5 decades.
In one of his last public speeches, the last Imperial EthioAbiy is also feeding about 10 million elementary and junior high school kids twice a day. Farm output is at an all time high! Electrification, industrialization, agricultural mechanization, wireless communication, transportation network, etc. are mostly on track.pia’s PM, the Oxford educated, PM Lij Michael Imru said the following: in our time, our (the younger generation ‘s) goal was to circumscribe the authority of the monarchy ( he referee to HIM as Janhoye) to and within the written laws, maybe bring those that were way up in excess a little down. The unity and territorial integrity of the people of Ethiopia was never ever in question in our time. The term, “”Peoples, peoples” is the dilemma brought on Ethiopia by the current generation.
DON’T YOU SEE THE MASSIVE CONTRADICTION AND ABSURDITY OF YOUR CADRE TALK POINTS BELOW????
“Abiy is also feeding about 10 million elementary and junior high school kids twice a day. Farm output is at an all time high! Electrification, industrialization, agricultural mechanization, wireless communication, transportation network, etc. are mostly on track.”
1) if everything well, great, rosy and dandy as your propaganda professes in Abiy’s Ethiopia, why would 10,000,000 elementary and junior high school kids need government sponsored feeding twice a day?????
BECAUSE, MILLIONS OF ETHIOPIAN FAMILIES ARE WELL BELOW THE POVERTY LINE AND CANNOT FEED THEIR KIDS!!!!!!!!
2) it is not the job of a government to feed its students, not at least the job of a non socialist or communist government’s job.
3) Abiy was mocking the tplf for putting some 2 million Tigreans on food safety net, only to turn around and put 10,000,000 students on food safety net himself.
What type of mind thinks like this?????
As the beloved Vulcan Spock reminds us as Tuvok:
Tom Paris : Ah! I give up!
Chakotay : After only two minutes? Tuvok, how do you do it?
Tuvok : I wait until his own illogic overwhelms him.
Abiy and his cadres now overwhelmed with ILlOGIC!!!!!!!!
Typo correction:
“In one of his last public speeches, the last Imperial EthioAbiy is also feeding about 10 million elementary and junior high school kids twice a day. Farm output is at an all time high! Electrification, industrialization, agricultural mechanization, wireless communication, transportation network, etc. are mostly on track.pia’s PM, the Oxford educated, PM Lij Michael Imru said the following: in our time, our (the younger generation ‘s) goal was to circumscribe the authority of the monarchy ( he referee to HIM as Janhoye) to and within the written laws, maybe bring those that were way up in excess a little down. The unity and territorial integrity of the people of Ethiopia was never ever in question in our time. The term, “”Peoples, peoples” is the dilemma brought on Ethiopia by the current generation.”
This paragraph got botched up, sorry.
It should have read as:
In one of his last public speeches, the last Imperial Ethiopia’s PM, the Oxford educated, PM Lij Michael Imru said the following: in our time, our (the younger generation ‘s) goal was to circumscribe the authority of the monarchy ( he refers to HIM as Janhoye) to and within the written laws, maybe bring those that were way up in excess a little down…… The unity and territorial integrity of the people of Ethiopia was never ever in question in our time. The term, “”Peoples, peoples” is the dilemma brought on Ethiopia by the current generation.
“Although Haile-Selassie enjoyed massive support from the White Supremacist West [WSW], Ethiopia became synonymous with ‘Famine’, ‘Poster Child of Poverty’, etc.”
Should we go about and regenerate all the communist propaganda of the 1970s that was used to malign and incubate the instability that led to the overthrow the government of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974? It is sad that the so called “progressives” of the time got bamboozled and lost the ball, and failed for the political chicanery of Ethiopia’s traditional but well known enemies. The late 1960s to 1970s actually was a period when Ethiopia was witnessing the proliferation of light industries, a booming of the housing sector in the cities, the establishment of the first noticeable middle class, a proliferation and growing interest in the arts, music and cultural transformation.
It is true there was a rising divide between rural and urban Ethiopia. If the so called intellectual class of the time only focused in abridging this rural vs urban asymmetrical growth (an asymmetry, by the way, not unique to Ethiopia), Ethiopia would not have faced the fifty years of misery, wars, mass murder, mass migration, mass displacement and crushing poverty combined with uncontrollable population explosion of the past 5 decades.
In one of his last public speeches, the last Imperial Ethiopia’s PM, the Oxford educated, PM Lij Michael Imru said the following: in our time, our (the younger generation ‘s) goal was to circumscribe the authority of the monarchy ( he referee to HIM as Janhoye) to and within the written laws, maybe bring those that were way up in excess a little down. The unity and territorial integrity of the people of Ethiopia was never ever in question in our time. The term, “”Peoples, peoples” is the dilemma brought on Ethiopia by the current generation.
DON’T YOU SEE THE MASSIVE CONTRADICTION AND ABSURDITY OF YOUR CADRE TALK POINTS BELOW????
“Abiy is also feeding about 10 million elementary and junior high school kids twice a day. Farm output is at an all time high! Electrification, industrialization, agricultural mechanization, wireless communication, transportation network, etc. are mostly on track.”
1) if everything well, great, rosy and dandy as your propaganda professes in Abiy’s Ethiopia, why would 10,000,000 elementary and junior high school kids need government sponsored feeding twice a day?????
BECAUSE, MILLIONS OF ETHIOPIAN FAMILIES ARE WELL BELOW THE POVERTY LINE AND CANNOT FEED THEIR KIDS!!!!!!!!
2) it is not the job of a government to feed its students, not at least the job of a non socialist or communist government’s job.
3) Abiy was mocking the tplf for putting some 2 million Tigreans on food safety net, only to turn around and put 10,000,000 students on food safety net himself.
What type of mind thinks like this?????
As the beloved Vulcan Spock reminds us as Tuvok:
Tom Paris : Ah! I give up!
Chakotay : After only two minutes? Tuvok, how do you do it?
Tuvok : I wait until his own illogic overwhelms him.
Abiy and his cadres now overwhelmed with ILlOGIC!!!!!!!!
I never seen such a long comment. it would have been better if have sliced and diced the the article of Dr. Yonas and came up with your side of the story.
Tariku Bogale,
It’s your Reasoning Disability that can make me Abiy’s Cadre! Your Oxford graduate monarchs did nothing for Ethiopia. Haile-Selassie’s regime brought only shame to Ethiopia(ns)!
His regime let millions die of famine and made Ethiopia synonymous with “Famine”, “World’s Poster Child of Poverty”, and the song “We are the World” whereas Abiy feeds 10 million school kids twice a day [rich or poor].
Your ‘Heil Haile-Selassie!’ rant is no consolation to me and the millions who died in the famine. I have never been to Wollo, but I was bashed by White Supremacists with the “We are the World” song whistle twice: First, while on a job training field trip and another one while waiting on line to enter exam hall for a final exam!
FYI: I was a child prisoner under Derg – for a long time! The last prison I was sent to was አለም በቃኝ. There, I met six of the Haile-Selassie Era Royals: Prince Mekonen’s 3 sons and Prince Asrate-Kassa’s 3 sons.
Lately, Haile-Selassie Era Royals are bragging about their royal ancestry, running various kinds of enterprises via proxies – in a country their monarchy made synonymous with “Famine”, “World’s Poster Child of Poverty”, etc.
One’s refusal to learn, know, & acknowledge the truth, doesn’t mean the truth is dead, or fact is not.
“A well informed public opinion is essential to the growth of political and social awareness. Only he who is informed can comment intelligently on his nation’s development and only by such comments can errors be corrected and progress stimulated”
Haile Selassie
“A man who says “I have learned enough and will learn no further” should be considered as knowing nothing at all.”
Haile Selassie
80 Quotes of Haile Selassie I
Link=azquotes.com/author/13294-Haile_Selassie
“A house built on granite and strong foundations, not even the onslaught of pouring rain, gushing torrents and strong winds will be able to pull down. Some people have written the story of my life representing as truth what in fact derives from ignorance, error or envy; but they cannot shake the truth from its place, even if they attempt to make others believe it.”
Haile Selassie
Be well.
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