The Call of the Time to Save Ethiopia: Unity of the Opposition

Fragmented opposition to the Woyane regime in Ethiopia has little chance in brignging down the dectatorial regime in whatever form of struggle or electoral process domestically, nor can it pose a strong international diplomatic pressure on the regime.

It has been said time and again that even countries that have come to realize the true nature of Woyane as a dectatorial regime, had difficulty pressurizing the government, in fear of creating a power vaccum, because of lack of a united and credible opposition that can stabilize the country. For example, over the last four to five years the US Department of State and Congress were being approached by a number of Ethiopian opposition groups who claimed to represent the interest of Ethiopians. In some instances, some of these appraoched the State Department undermining the effort of the other opposition. Similar approaches of the opposition with the international diplomatic community crippled the potential diplomatic support that could have been gained to challenge Woyane.

It is obvious that no foreign country will fight the fight for us to bring Woyane down. Nor none of us can fight alone the monestrous Woyane. Woyane has closed all the ways in which we can openly unite and peacefully oppose it on the ground in Ethiopia. We still have to unite and go underground to resist and get rid of Woyane by all means in Ethiopia.

And in the diaspora, where there is the freedom to associate and express opinion freely, we have to come together and provide a credible alternative, to help the international diplomatic community pressurize the despotic Woyane to submit to negotiations with the opposition. This is the call of the time: providing a credible and united opposition as an alternative!!! Every Ethiopian in the diaspora has to answer to this call!!!

The True Color of Woyane: Dictatorship

In present day Ethiopia, there is not much problem of lack of law, but rather, the critical problem is the lack of the Rule of Law. Woyane has for that matter, a near perfect constitution for all to see. It resembles the constitutions of most democratic countries in the North. The problem is, that constitution does not govern the Woyane tyrants. They do not obey that law they drafted and enacted. There are also many other international conventions and covenants that Woyane has ratified, for the whole world to see. But it does not obey these laws. There is no structure that can hold Woyane accountable. Woyane is above the law in Ethiopia. The true nature of Woyane is dictatorship, nothing less!!!

Recently, they are trying to distract the attention of Ethiopians and the international community by passing the Ethiopian Civil Society Law, as if the law matters to them. There was a law in that country that governed civil society, which they never wanted to respect. They were never in good terms with independent civil society since their assumption of power in 1991. They were organizing the whole society all around Ethiopia in such a way that it is never penetrated by independent civil society groups.

As a civil society practitioner in Ethiopia for over 15 years until the 2005 elections, I have a vivid memory of how Woyane was organizing households along the line of a quasi-political grouping to control the whole society. Independent civil society groups never had a chance of engaging the society for real and questioning the status-quo, except delivering the services the government was supposed to deliver to its citizens. Even before the passing of this new civil society law, Woyane was denying access to independent civil society groups from genuinely engaging the Ethiopian people for development.

The people at the higher echelons of Woyane are closely knit together by kinship and affinity. Naturally, this kind of association is not open for democracy. It is this group at the helm of Woyane, that has dictated the drafting of the Ethiopian "constitution", created a fake division of organs of government, and playing and watching all the drama that is going on in Ethiopia.

So let us forget the talk of changing Woyane through electoral democracy. Let us come together and force them out by all means. Now is the time. Dictators do not accept election outcomes!!! Dictatorship is Woyane's true color!!!

Tha Nature of Woyane

Often, I read and listen, from the proponents of peaceful struggle in Ethiopia, that Woyane can be persuaded to leave or share power with the opposition through an election outcome. I also had some expectation that EPRDF would accept the people's verdict during the 2005 election.

But the aftermath of the 2005 election has confirmed to me that Woyane, true to its nature, is there to rule for good, unless it is disposed by force. I am not a political scientist or an academic to support my argument with a review of the lierature. The fact that I was a resident in Ethiopia since Woyane assumed state power and stayed there until the aftermath of the 2005 election enables me to reflect and make a near conclusive statement that the best way to get rid of Woyane is force more than anything.

I think the way Woyane was pretending to be democratic and accomodative has deceived many Ethiopians, as it did to me, of its true nature. The key engineers of today's TPLF (Woyane) are related by either affinity or kinship and have been sucking the blood of Ethiopians during their battle with the dergue and after their assumption of state power in 1991. These Woyane thugs have systematically been embezelling resources and imprisoning and killing all people who stood on their way. And they knew that they would be held accountable for their actions if they were to lose power by any means.

Since the order of the day is now holding elections, to appear democratic and accommodative, the Woyanes will also hold regular elections no matter what. But they will never surrender their power through democratic means, since they will never trust anyone to consider them innocent.

Since they will do anything to cling to powr to avoid accountability, the alternative way to get rid of them is to engage them in violent struggle.