Who is Next and Where?

Dear fellow Ethiopians, over the last few weeks, we have witnessed a renewed Woyane instigated displacement of Ethiopians of the Amhara ethnic group from Gura Ferda woreda in southwestern Ethiopia (I hate to call areas in Ethiopia by their ethnic names). That is so sad, scaring and intollerable!!! How can an Ethiopian of a certain ethnic group be denied his or her right to move, live, work, create wealth and establish themselves in different parts of the country? If this is not possible, why do we call ourselves Ethiopians after all? The reasons Mr. Zenawi, Mr. Shigute, or whoever, gave are unacceptable. If any of those guys whom they accused of destructing the environment in Gura Ferda are alleged to have committed crime, they have to be charged for the crime (if that is a crime under the law) and be convicted, sentenced, and serve their sentence, not be chased away from the region as if they are foreigners! I remember Woyane accusing Kinijit (CUD) of instigating hatred against Tigreans, during and after the 2005 election, particularly quoting Bedru Adem's words at the historic Kinijit rally on "Miazia 30" in Addis Ababa. Different ethnic groups of Ethiopia have been integrating and assimilating with each other through intermarriages and through working and living in different parts of the country they don't belong ethnically. I myself as an ethnic "Kembata", lived most of my life in different parts of the country, Oromigna speaking, Wolaitigna speaking, Hadiyigna speaking, Kembatigna speaking, Amharic speaking parts of the country, and had always felt comfortable and enjoyed my life in those parts of Ethiopia. In my choice of a wife, ethnicity never mattered, but love and understanding. My wife, for that matter is from an Amahara ethnic group. Woyane's Bantustization of Ethiopia is pushing the limit too far and disintegrating our country. I know there are multitudes of ethnic Kembatas in Sidamo, Wolayita, Gamo Gofa, Shashemene, Wonji and Metehara areas, and so many ethnic Amharas almost all over Ethiopia, and so many ethnic Tigreans almost all over Ethiopia, and so many ethnic Gurages all over Ethiopia, and so many ethnic Oromos, all over Ethiopia, etc. If Woayane's ethnic policy was in place when I was born, I wouldn't have moved any further than todays' ethnic Kambata capital, "Durame". Nor Hailemariam Desalegn, the current Foreign Minister, would have moved any further than "Soddo", nor Meles/Legesse Zenawi, from "Adwa". My fellow Ethiopians, we are at a dangerous cross road of history at this time. If we keep quiet in the face of what Woyane is doing right now, we don't know who is next in the current displacement cycle, the ethnic Kembatas in Wonji, Metehara, Nazreth, Arbaminch or Soddo; or the ethnic Amharas in Jinka, Hossana, Assela, Mekele, Jimma, or Nekemte; or the ethnic Oromos in Gondar, Bahirdar, Debrebirhan, Hossana, Areka, or Dessie; or the ethnic Tigres and Gurages, in Addis, Bahirdar, Gonder, Dessie, etc. It is time to stand united and resist this Bantustization!!!

Dear Ethiopians It Is Time to Rise Up in Unison

Muslims all over Ethiopia are rejecting Woyane's divide and rule tactics and are rising up in unison to protect thier freedom of belief and to stop the regime's interference in their religion. As we have witnessed during the Arab Springs, Ethiopian Muslims are also using the time after the Friday prayers as the platform to voice their opposition to Woyane's move to silence them. The central issue is not the wahabism, ahbashism or other "isms" woyane is trying to project, but just its desire to control and divide Ethiopian muslims and extending its grip on power, while muslims fight each other, and scaring believers of other religions in Ethiopia by projecting a myth that muslim extremest groups are bent to destroy them, and thereby gain their support. To make innocent followers of other religions believe this, woyane stooges have already burned churches and other sites of worship in different parts of Ethiopia. Woyane has demonistrated its will of imposing its power in the practices of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) Synod, in selecting the Church's ptriarch, by politically appointing the woyane cadre, Paulos, as the patriarch of the EOC and populating the senior positions in the Church's leadership by ethnic Tigreans. The opposition to this interference by the laity was crushed through killings, jailings, and further removal of the leaders of the Church from their positions. Woyane has tried these tactics on Ethiopian Muslims too since its arrival in town. Now, the time has come for Ethiopian muslims to say enough is enough,in unison. It would have great consequences later if we, followers of other religions, standby and silently watch our muslim brothers and sisters being killed and jailed by woyane mercenaries. If we remain quiet now, we will be collaborators and conspirators in their peril. How can we claim we are one and united with our brother and sisters, if we keep silent when they are perishing? Quite a number of Christians gather in thousands of Churches every Sunday in all over Ethiopia. Now is the right time to use the Sunday Paryer as the platform to express our support for freedom and to oppose woyane's war against everything Ethiopian. All Ethiopians, let us stand in unison, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Traditional believers and non believers, and claim our right of freedom. Let us use the moment

Is Ethiopia Moving Towards a Militaristic or Developmental State?

Meles Zenawi has been bragging about rapid development and poverty reduction since TPLF’s grip of power in Ethiopia. Particularly, since the rejection of his rule in the 2005 election, Meles’ junta has been claiming consistently high levels of economic growth in the country. But a closer scrutiny of credible researches reveals that investment patterns of the government tell a totally different story.

Table 1. Trends in federal government budget allocations in selected African countries 2000-2007

Country Agri. Edu. Health Transp/Comm Social Defense Other*

Ethiopia 9.4 9.2 1.9 4.4 9.9 18.3 46.6
Ghana 0.5 15.1 4.7 1.2 0.0 2.1 76.3
Kenya 4.3 27.7 6.0 5.6 5.6 7.8 43.1
Malawi 5.0 18.2 12.2 4.1 7.0 2.6 50.9
Mozambique 5.1 20.1 12.9 15.4 N.A N.A 46.2
Nigeria 2.9 7.6 4.6 2.4 2.5 6.2 73.8
Uganda 3.9 18.7 10.7 9.6 2.9 10.0 44.1
Zambia 10.8 16.6 7.9 1.0 0.4 12.4 50.9

Source: IFPRI (Jan. 2012 Study Report)
*Other government functions including general administration, fuel and
energy, and manufacturing, construction and mining

From a cursory look at the above table, the following critical observations can be made:

 Ethiopia has by far the lowest investment in education (except Nigeria) and health and the highest investment in defense.

 Ethiopia’s defense allocation is almost twice the country’s allocation for education and health.

 The proportion Ethiopia allocates for defense is almost equivalent to the combined defense allocations of Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Nigeria. Ghana is an African democracy now, and the other two had relatively better democratic elections.

While the basic building blocks for a nation’s development are its people’s education and health, it is ridiculous when Woyane puports to making Ethiopia a middle income country in the next decade, while it stands at the tail end even by African standards.

The government’s investment pattern and illicit financial flows shown in other reports tells us that this a regime destined to bleed the country dry by the hench of its military. Adios development.